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The Best Science-Fiction Authors

The best science-fiction writers are among some of the most creative writers ever. Instead of only making up a story, they make up entire universes, time dimensions, alien technologies - it's really incredible. Truth be told, some are more successful than others - it is really easy to write bad scifi. But those who can actually pull the genre off are right here on this list of the top science-fiction authors. These are the best science-fiction authors of all time, ranked by readers and fans.

This list include some highly recognizable and classic names, like Isaac Asimov and George Orwell, along with some contemporary science-fiction writers who are just beginning to make their mark on the genre. This list of the best sci-fi authors includes some of the best horror writers and the best fantasy authors , but since the genres elements all go together nicely, it's to be expected. Fans of science-fiction know that there is always some overlap. All of the famous sci fi authors on this list have one thing in common: they've written fantastic, horrifying, mystical works of science-fiction for fans to enjoy for years to come. Vote for your favorite sci-fi authors here.

Listed among the best science-fiction authors are some of the most well-known, popular sci-di authors ever, including a few that may not always show up on a 'best of' list. Disagree with a choice? Vote it down. The aforementioned (brilliant) writers are responsible for some of the best science-fiction novels and series of all time - but other sci-fi writers like Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Robert Louis Stevenson (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), and Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) are excellent sci-fi writers as well. All of these authors, in my opinion, deserve a place of honor on this list.

Hopefully, this list will grow and become totally comprehensive. Readers who are new to sci-fi can use it as a great guide to find new science fiction authors and books.

Jules Verne

Isaac Asimov

Ray Bradbury

Arthur C. Clarke

H. G. Wells

Robert A. Heinlein

George Orwell

Philip K. Dick

Frank Herbert

Ursula K. Le Guin

Douglas Adams

Larry Niven

Mary Shelley

Stanisław Lem

Roger Zelazny

Rod Serling

Frederik Pohl

Edgar Rice Burroughs

William Gibson

Poul Anderson

Kurt Vonnegut

Aldous Huxley

Arthur Conan Doyle

Terry Pratchett

Harry Harrison

Michael Crichton

Anne McCaffrey

Harlan Ellison

Robert Silverberg

Lists about novelists, poets, short story authors, journalists, essayists, and playwrights, from simple rankings to fun facts about the men and women behind the pens.

Best Science Fiction Authors of All Time: 13 Writers To Read

Are you looking for the best science fiction authors? Here are some of the top sci-fi writers of all time, and pick up amazing science fiction novels today!

There is nothing quite like the world of science fiction. It has the ability to instantly transport you to another world, leaving Earth behind. You also get to explore the capabilities of time travel, interact with androids, and consider artificial intelligence all while imagining what the future might be like.

In many ways, the worlds discussed in sci-fi novels encourage people to shoot for the stars, dream big, and model their futures after what we learn about in these sci-fi novels. Who are some of the top sci-fi writers of all time, and what are some of the best books sci-fi books that they wrote? If you enjoy this article, check out our  N.K. Jemisin masterclass review . It’s a must for all wannabe fantasy and sci-fi writers.

1. Isaac Asimov, 1920 – 1992

2. arthur c. clarke, 1917 – 2008, 3. frank herbert, 1920 – 1986, 4. ursula k. le guin, 1929 – 2018, 5. h. g. wells, 1866 – 1946, 6. neal stephenson, 1959, 7. dan simmons, 1948, 8. philip k. dick, 1928 – 1982, 9. liu cixin, 1963, 10. jules verne, 1828-1905, 11. robert a. heinlein, 1907-1988, 12. ray bradbury, 1920-2012, 13. edward rice burroughs, 1875-1950, 14. iain m. banks, final word on the best science fiction authors, who is the best science fiction writer of all time, are there any other science fiction authors i may want to check out, what are some other science fiction works i may want to check out, best authors reading list.

Isaac Asimov is considered to be one of the best authors of all time, let alone one of the best sci fi writers ever. He was an American writer and professor, teaching biochemistry at Boston University. He wrote or edited more than 500 books during the course of his storied career. Even though he explored multiple elements of Science Fiction, he is best known for his works on androids, robots, and other sentient life.

In many ways, he is considered to be the father of the modern science fiction genre. A lot of his books remain best-sellers, and he is particularly well known for several series, notably Foundation, which was recently adapted into a TV series. He is also the author of  I, Robot , which was turned into a movie. Before you check out his works on the big screen, you may want to pick up a copy of the Foundation series for yourself.

Arthur C Clarke is an English science fiction writer. In addition to his work as an author, he also hosted a television series, explored the depths of the ocean, and made a career as an inventor. In addition to his novels, he published a variety of essays focusing on space travel, encouraging man to shoot for the stars. He even had the ability to predict the future, predicting that man would eventually be able to instantly contact people anywhere on Earth, long before the invention of the internet. 

Even though a lot of his works are listed among the greatest science fiction stories of all time, he is best known for  2001: A Space Odyssey , a work that would later become a critically-acclaimed movie as well. Before you check out the famous movie, you may want to pick up a copy of his book for yourself. You can find  2001: A Space Odyssey  on Amazon. Looking for more sci-fi novels to add to your reading list? Check out our round-up of the best Cyberpunk authors !

Frank Herbert is a storied American science fiction author. He was always fascinated by writing, starting to read the newspaper from cover to cover from an early age. Eventually, he developed a passion for science fiction, thinking about what the future might look like. In particular, he is known for the novel Dune , which he published in 1965. It became a massive hit, inspiring five sequels to be published after it. In addition, the popular series has been adapted to the big screen multiple times. In addition to his work as an author, he also worked as a newspaper journalist, ecological consultant, photographer, and lecturer.

The  Dune series is set in the distant future, taking place over thousands of years. It explores the variety of themes that the human species will have to tackle to expand to other worlds. It was also turned into a hit film in 2021 directed by Denis Villeneuve, for more recommendations like this, check out our guide to  hard science fiction .

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the most popular American science fiction authors of all time. Most of her works were set in the unique Hainish universe, and she is best known for her Earthsea fantasy novels. Her career lasted more than 60 years and included dozens of novels and countless short stories . She earned her master’s degree in French, and she started writing full-time in the late 1950s. Some of her most popular books include A Wizard of Earthsea and  The Left Hand of Darkness . 

The Left Hand of Darkness  won her the Hugo award and the Nebula award, both for the best novel. She was the first woman to win either award. You might want to check out  The Left Hand of Darkness  on Amazon.

H. G. Wells was an English writer who published during the last half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Even though he published works in a variety of areas, including biographies, satires, historical fiction , and social commentary works, he is also one of the pioneers of science fiction, entering into the area as one of its early writers.

In many ways, he had a progressive vision for the future. A popular futurist, he wrote about nuclear weapons, space travel, planes, satellite TV, and the internet long before any of these became reality. He envisioned something of a utopia in the future, explored the possibility of time travel, and discussed the possibility of invisibility. Some of his most popular works include The War of the Worlds , The War in the Air ,  The Time Machine , and The Invisible Man . He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. 

Neal Stephenson is one of the most popular contemporary American science fiction writers. Even though he has been interested in the applications of future technology for nearly his entire life, his work in the science fiction area has explored a lot of new areas. His work has been described as cyberpunk, with a marriage of historical fiction, science fiction, and cryptography. In addition to his work as a novelist, he also publishes regularly in technology publications, including Wired . 

His unique cyberpunk work creates a dystopian world where low-lives are married with high-tech, creating an interesting dynamic. Some of his most popular works include The System of the World , The Confusion , and Cryptonomicon . You might want to check out The System of the World for yourself, which is available on Amazon. If you like reading sci-fi books, you might want to explore our round-up of the best authors like octavia butler .

Dan Simmons is a popular American science fiction writer. He was born in Peoria, Illinois, and earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Wabash College. He went on to earn his Master’s in education from Washington University in St Louis. He started writing short stories at an early age, but his career did not flourish until 1982. At that time, he published a short story, called The River Styx Runs Upstream , and it was published in the Twilight Zone Magazine , earning him a lot of recognition for his work.

Today, Simmons is best known as the author of the Hyperion Cantos series of science fiction novels as well as the Ilium and Olympos science fiction novels. He has the ability to bring multiple genres together, frequently blending horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy. He also won a World Fantasy Award for his work Song of Kali in 1985. You can check out some of his work for yourself by picking up a copy of the Hyperion Cantos series from Amazon.

Philip K Dick is one of the most prolific science fiction writers of all time. During his career, he wrote more than 44 novels and 121 short stories. Most of his short stories appeared in science fiction magazines. His work explored a variety of areas including the nature of reality, human nature, perception, and the idea of identity. He also told stories that took place in alternate realities, none of them involving altered states of consciousness. 

Even though he was born in Chicago, he spent most of his time growing up in the San Francisco Bay area. He published his first stories in 1952 when he was only 23 years old. His career started off slowly, but he garnered critical acclaim for his work, The Man in the High Castle , an alternate history novel in 1962. It earned him the Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book was also adapted into a popular TV series. Some of his other popular works include Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep , Ubik , and Flow My Tears , the Policeman Said .

You may want to check out his book, The Man in the High Castle , for yourself. It is available on Amazon. If you like science fiction, you’ll love our round-up of the best Edgar Rice Burroughs books .

Liu Cixin is a Chinese science fiction author behind the Three-Body Problem . That’s hard science fiction series about the future of humanity and what would happen if we found alien life. The series is unlike anything else on this perhaps due to Liu writing from the point of view of China and not Western society. The series is being turned into a television show by the showrunners behind Game of Thrones . His work is regarded as hard science fiction .

Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France. He’s regarded as the father of science fiction and many of his books have been turned into films, plays and even video games. His first book was Five Weeks in a Balloon, published in 1863. Some of his most famous works include Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Around the World in Eight Days . He died of complications related to chronic diabetes and a subsequent stroke.

Heinlein was born in Missouri, the third of seven children. He served in the US Navy and was also married multiple times. He’s well known for his advice to writers, known as Heinlein’s rules of writing. These are:

• You must write.
• Finish what you start.
• You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
• You must put your story on the market.
• You must keep it on the market until it has sold.

Friday, Glory Road, I Will Fear No Evil and Starship Troopers are some of his most famous works. Director Paul Verhoeven turned that last book into a satirical film in 1997. For more, check out our guide to the best satirical authors .

Bradbury was born in Illinois. He spent much of his early life reading and writing and penned his first story aged 12. He published his first story, Hollerbochen’s Dilemma , aged 19. He contributed regularly to film magazines and became a full-time writer aged 24. He was a big believer in the importance of writing every day . Some of his most famous works include I Sing the Body Electric, Fahrenheit 451 , and The Martian Chronicles.  You might also enjoy these authors like Michael Crichton .

Edward Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago. He began writing fiction in his thirties to earn a side income. He said about this period of his life, “… if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines, that I could write stories just as rotten. As a matter of fact, although I had never written a story, I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines.”

Burrough turned writing a series of books into a fine art and earned a good living. He even self-published or printed his own books in the 1930s. His most famous works include the Tarzan series, the Barsoom series and the Venus series. For more, check out our guide to the best Edward Rice Burroughs books .

Iain Banks (1954-2013) was a mainstream fiction and science fiction author. From Scotland, He achieved fame writing science fiction through his pseudonym, Iain M. Banks, with the novel Consider Phlebas . That was published in 1987. 

Banks’ science-fiction novels, especially the 10-book Culture series, amassed a cult following and constantly received critics’ praise. According to his official website , Banks was lauded as “the most imaginative novelist of his generation” by The Times , while The Guardian called him “ the standard by which the rest of SF is judged .” 

Sadly, in April 2013, Banks revealed he was suffering from late-stage cancer, and died the following June, leaving an enormous gap in contemporary science fiction. For more, read our guide to the best Ian Banks books.

“The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn’t.” Iain M. Banks

These are a few of the most popular science fiction writers of all time. The science-fiction genre is massive with many great books worth reading. In many ways, the world of science fiction gives us a goal to shoot for, pushing us to move forward as a race. Even though many science fiction books can show what our future might look like at its worst, these books can also inspire us to be our best. As a result, many science fiction books have led to amazing TV shows, movies, and technological leaps, showing the power these books have.

If you want an introduction to this genre, you may want to take a look at some of the works by the writers above. You will quickly find that the science fiction area has a lot of sub-genres as well. You might even find that many of the books have inspired some of your favorite characters from movies and TV shows. 

FAQs About the Best Science Fiction Authors

Some of the best science fiction writers of all time include Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury,  Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein and Ursula Le Guin.

Check out books by John Scalzi, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Ann Leckie, Octavia E. Butler and Andy Weir. Many of their books are available on Amazon, and you can learn more about this amazing field of writing. 

There are a lot of amazing works in this field. You may want to check out Frankenstein, Cixin, Niven, Starship Troopers, Snow Crash, and even a space opera novella or two. Many of these works take place in a strange land, and you can experience what life might be like in another universe.

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Top Sci-fi Books

15 Best Sci Fi Authors

Are you looking to have serious Science Fiction book collection? If so, you're gonna need some staples from the best science fiction authors!

Every sci fi author on this list can be truly considered as one of the greats. So, in no particular order, here are our picks for the top sci fi authors to ever write in the genre.

Oh! And if you want to check out any of these titles for free, you can do so with Audible's one month free trial .

Isaac Asimov

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It’s impossible to curate a list of the best science fiction authors of all time without mentioning Isaac Asimov. His prestige and pedigree cannot be overstated. As well as being one of the most respected authors in terms of his literary contributions, he is one of the most serious scientists found here. His contributions to the sci fi genre and science as a whole are numerous. His Foundation series is one of the most classic sci fi series of all time, and his laws of robotics are an incredible scientific landmark.

Robert Heinlein

Robert Heinlein is perhaps the finest example of a classic sci fi writer who used the genre to explore wider themes. Although Heinlein’s work stands on its own as essential reading, having helped to establish some of the biggest and best subgenres within sci fi, he was also one of the first writers to explore social themes through a science fiction lens. For newcomers to Heinlein, Stranger In A Strange Land and Starship Troopers are excellent starting points.

Frank Herbert

We wanted to avoid the cliche of listing the ‘big 3’ authors in order, so allow us a brief detour in the form of Frank Herbert. Dune is perhaps the best example of an epic sci-fi story that satisfies both genre fans and wider literary admirers. Dune also is the best-selling sci fi story of all time, a true testament to its broad appeal. However, Herbert shouldn’t be thought of as a one trick pony. As well as penning classic fiction, Herbert is a trained journalist. This helps to explain the level of political and social detail he weaves into his work.

Arthur C Clarke

Arthur C Clarke is the third of the classic ‘big 3’ science fiction authors, alongside Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. Clarke’s stories are well-known through their film adaptations, although sci fi purists tend to insist on the superiority of the print editions. As well as his best-known work, 2001, Clarke has produced other genuine classics such as Rendezvous with Rama. Outside of science fiction, Clarke was a true adventurer, even discovering a ruined temple as part of his scuba diving expeditions! This pioneering spirit can be found within the pages of his science fiction books.

Ursula K Le Guin

Le Guin is perhaps the most widely admired female science fiction author, and with good reason. Her stories stand up against any in the genre, and she is one of the most imaginative minds to ever put pen to paper. Guin’s special talent was mixing fantasy and science fiction into cohesive and gripping tales which also grip the reader emotionally. Although definitely appealing to sci fi fans, to say Le Guin was purely a science fiction author is a disservice to her. Her work drew critical claim from literary reviewers of almost every type, and Le Guin stated she was a novelist as opposed to a sci fi author.

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley’s influence is immense and lasts until this day. His writing was almost prophetic in predicting many of the ways in which science would change the world, and the impact that technology would have on science as a whole. Brave New World is still widely considered one of the most important novels of all time. In addition to his better known works, Huxley released many other books and essays, and is considered a philosopher and thinker outside of his work as an author.

Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams is one of the most-loved authors on this list, and with great reason. His Hitchhiker’s Guide series is one of the most enjoyable and fun science fiction works of all time, and Adams work continues to be adapted and enjoyed to this very day. Although Adams wasn’t a sci fi novelist in the conventional sense, having originally released Hitchhiker’s as a radio play, the legacy and impact of his work earns him a spot on this list.

Philip K Dick

Philip K Dick’s work is some of the most influential to ever exist. The power of his stories is evidenced by their numerous adaptations into film, and some of the ideas and tropes advanced by Dick have helped revolutionize the science fiction genre. To release a single story as immense as Do Androids Dream or The Man In The High Castle would be a landmark achievement for most authors, but for Philip K Dick, it was par for the course. A true titan whose impact continues to be felt.

Larry Niven

Larry Niven was one of the most imaginative and visionary authors to ever publish in the science fiction genre. Perhaps best known for his Ringworld series, Niven released a mixture of hard sci-fi, humorous works, and even stories with a sort of private eye feel to them. Niven is so widely regarded that there is such a thing as ‘Niven’s Laws’, a series of principles explaining the universe through Niven’s viewpoint. Larry Niven was perhaps the most readable of hard sci-fi writers, and is well worthy of his status as one of the best of all time.

William Gibson

William Gibson’s work had a major impact both within and beyond the world of science fiction. As well as coining the term cyberspace, Gibson helped to establish the conventions of the cyberpunk genre. His work is thrilling as well as intellectually stimulating. Of course, helping to establish cyberpunk wasn’t enough for Gibson, so he also founded the steampunk genre with the help of Bruce Sterling. It’s hard to think of a more influential and important modern sci-fi author.

Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson is a fine example of a sci fi author who was able to both write entertaining, fun fiction, that also packed a political punch. Some of the themes found in his stories include the importance of liberty, and the arrogance of Westerners towards other cultures. Some of his best known work includes Tau Zero and Time Patrol. Anderson’s pedigree is evidenced by the multiple awards he has won as well as his presence in the sci fi hall of fame.

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is well-known for his classic tale Ender’s Game, originally released as a serial story. Card’s winning of consecutive Hugo and Nebula awards is unmatched. As well as Ender’s Game and its sequel, Speaker For The Dead, Card has released award-winning works of fantasy, and even non-fiction guides to writing sci fi. A well-loved author who has produced some of the best sci fi of recent decades.

David Brin is a fine example of a sci fi author who is able to release both critically acclaimed and readable works. Brin is a master of both series, such as his Uplift novels, and standalone books, such as the critically acclaimed The Postman. Brin has more Nebula and Hugo awards than most of us have pairs of shoes! There aren’t many writers who are able to please both the literary critic and the casual reader alike, but Brin is one of them. The Postman is perhaps the best starting point for newcomers.

Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton will always be best-known as the mind behind Jurassic Park, but he in fact released a wide range of other epic novels. Crichton is able to blend serious science and gripping narrative in a way that few others are. Aside from Jurassic Park, Crichton’s best work includes Micro, a posthumous novel, and interestingly the TV series ER, testament to Crichton’s former life as a medical doctor. A truly extraordinary and talented individual.

HG Wells has an almost mythological status within the world of science fiction, and pop culture in general. Although the tale of widespread panic at The War Of The Worlds is basically an urban legend, Wells’ impact goes far further than that. In addition to War Of The Worlds, Wells wrote The Invisible Man, and is widely referred to as ‘the Father of science fiction’ due to his influence. Wells is one of the earliest voices in the genre, and all future writers are indebted to him for blazing the trail they later followed.

How Were The Best Sci Fi Authors Selected?

The ocean of science fiction awesomeness is deep and wide, so choosing 15 of the best ever was no easy task. In fact, there could probably be at least 50 writers on this list. However, we don’t want to risk information overload, so we decided to narrow it down.

There are plenty of writers who have released one or two amazing works, but failed to make this list due to how prolific certain writers, such as Isaac Asimov, were in comparison.

Given that this could never be exhaustive, what are some of the factors Top Sci Fi Books kept in mind when compiling our choice of the best fifteen science fiction authors to ever put pen to paper?

Influence. Although the list is more than just a rundown of who’s been the most influential within the sci fi genre, influence is certainly a factor that we’ve taken into account. From some of the earliest writers to adopt the sci fi style, such as HG Wells, to all-time classic authors, such as Isaac Asimov, many of the writers on this list are incredibly influential.

Importance. There are some sci fi writers who redefine what the genre looks like, or even branch out and create a subgenre of their own. William Gibson is a superb example of such an author. Without Gibson, we wouldn’t have cyberpunk as we know it, and steampunk would probably not exist either. Therefore, when compiling the list, we looked for authors who had a serious impact on the direction of the science fiction genre.

Pedigree. One of the things which separates science fiction authors from writers in other genres is there background. Many of the names found here are widely regarded within the world of science and other academic disciplines outside of fiction. Examples include Isaac Asimov, whose robotics work is definitive, and Michael Crichton, who was literally a medical doctor before writing.

Fan love. Some science fiction writers seem to have a special knack for inspiring love and devotion among their readers. Examples include Orson Scott Card, who grizzled grown men regularly fangirl over, and Douglas Adams, whose works have inspired cult like devotion to this day. Many of the writers on this list inspired extraordinary amounts of positivity among fans.

Were There Any Near Misses For The List Of Top Science Fiction Authors?

There are plenty of authors who were considered for this list but didn’t quite make it. This isn’t because they are worse than the authors on the list as such. Instead, they didn’t quite feel right, based on the criteria we were using.

Of course, any list of the best authors is going to be subjective. We could have been sterile and boring and done something like aggregate all the Amazon review scores, but who wants to do that? Although it’s science fiction, it’s very much an art!

So who are some of the authors we thought about including, but ultimately chose to go in another direction?

New genre specialists. The world of modern sci-fi is full of amazing genres. Steampunk, dieselpunk, eco-sci fi. If you can think of it, it probably exists. There are incredible and talented writers producing great work in each and every subgenre out there. However, we wanted to pick authors with the broadest appeal possible. If your tastes are a little more niche, we’ve got you covered elsewhere here on Top Sci Fi!

Broader literary figures. One could argue that Margaret Atwood or Mary Shelley should be on this list. However, we feel it’s something of a disservice to limit them to sci fi alone. If an author is more commonly thought of as a literary novelist, as opposed to a sci fi writer, they probably haven’t been included here.

Anyone too polarizing. There are some sci-fi authors who are seriously loved by some, but detested by others. Without naming names, think of some of the classic pulp authors, and some of the harder hard sci fi writers. If a writer tends to fall into the category of ‘loved and hated in equal measure’, they are not part of this list.

Ultimately, there is no way of definitively naming the best sci fi authors of all time. Every sci fi fan will have a slightly different criteria. However, we feel that this list presents a notable range of titans. There is someone for everyone, and much to discover when digging through the bibliographies of these science fiction powerhouses.

Check Out The Best Sci Fi Authors For Free!

Interested in delving deep into the works of the top science fiction writers? You can do so for free! Here are two ways to make it happen:

1.  Signup with Audible's One Month Free Trial : By signing up for Audible's free month trial you can download any two books you choose for free. If you decide you like Audible then you can pay a small monthly fee of $14.95 and get one book a month. If you decide you do not like Audible you can cancel your trial and keep your two free books.

2. If you want to try something other than Audible you could also try Playster.  Playster's One Month Free Trial   works with either ebooks or audiobooks. You can pay for a membership at $14.95 per month and receive unlimited books. However Playster does not offer as many book options. If you would like to listen to all of Playsters books you will need to use the premium which is $29.95. ]

1 thought on “15 Best Sci Fi Authors”

My husband enjoyed Science Fiction when it wasn’t ZOMBIES,FANASY, HORROR,VIOLENCE AND MAGIC . The violence and descriptions of horror is not good reading. Putting a little SCIENCE in the story would be easier to read.

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Stephen Baxter

Stephen baxter was born in liverpool in 1957 and studied maths at cambridge university and engineering at southampton university..

He became a teacher of mathematics and physics, and worked in information technology for some years, before becoming a full-time writer in 1995.

He has written many science fiction novels and short stories, including the award-winning Time Ships (1995), the authorised sequel to HG Wells's The Time Machine . His books include the Manifold sequence: Time (1999),  Space (2000) and  Origin (2001), and a collection of short stories, Phase Space (2002). He is also the author of two further series, the Mammoth series and the Xeelee sequence, the latter comprising his first novel, Raft (1991),  Timelike Infinity (1992),  Flux (1993) and  Ring (1994), and a collection of short fiction,  Vacuum Diagrams (1997). He has also co-authored  books with Arthur C. Clarke, including The Light of Other Days (2000),  Time's Eye (2004) and Firstborn (2007). 

Stephen Baxter's second collection of short fiction is Traces (1998), and he has also published the non-fiction books Deep Future (2001), Omegatropic (2001) and Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World (2003), a study of the geologist James Hutton.

He has co-authored four books with the late Terry Pratchett,  The Long Earth  (2012),  The Long War (2013),  The Long Mars (2014) and  The Long Utopia  (2015). The latest in the Xeelee series, Endurance,  was published in 2015.

Critical perspective

Stephen baxter, one of britain’s leading science-fiction authors, is an incredibly prolific writer, producing almost 50 works in less than two decades..

This includes several sequences: the Xeelee sequence; the Manifold Trilogy; the Mammoth Trilogy; the Destiny’s Children sequence; the Time’s Tapestry series, and the Time Odyssey trilogy which he co-authored with Arthur C. Clarke. Baxter is often regarded as Clarke’s successor in the world of science-fiction writing, while his other influences include H.G. Wells and Brian Aldiss. Baxter’s love of science fiction began in childhood, and by his teens he was already writing his own stories. His first published works were short stories, through which he experimented with different styles and began to gain confidence in his own literary ‘voice’. For Baxter, as for all science fiction writers, the challenge is to combine ideas with an engaging narrative and convincing characters. Baxter’s background is academic, and his fiction is based on detailed and conscientious scientific research, often addressing vast and profound ideas on a grand scale. However, he is also highly imaginative, entertaining and attentive to the importance of plot and characterisation (though characterisation is certainly not his strongest point). As one reviewer says of Baxter’s 2002 novel, Evolution : "[Baxter’s] aim is one Wells would heartily endorse: to breathe life into a scientific theory – evolution by natural selection. The result is a powerful fusion of science and imagination" (P.D. Smith, ‘The shadow of the beast’, The Guardian , 21 December 2002).

Baxter’s first published short story was ‘The Xeelee Flower’ in Interzone magazine (no. 19, Spring 1987). From this arose the idea for his first novels, the Xeelee sequence: Raft (1991), followed by Timelike Infinity (1992),  Flux (1993) and Ring (1994). (The sequence also includes a collection of short stories and several novellas.) These early works were highly acclaimed and revealed Baxter’s ability to create detailed and believable alternative worlds in which the reader can become completely immersed. The Xeelee sequence is also incredibly ambitious and epic, spanning the history of the universe (though the books were not published in chronological order). Baxter is usually regarded as a ‘hard’ science-fiction writer, and these novels are packed with scientific detail – in Raft , humans are living in an inhospitable universe, in which gravity is one billion times stronger than it is on Earth. Many centuries earlier, their space-traveller ancestors accidentally entered this world and failed to escape, and now its capacity to support human life is coming to an end. Raft ’s central character, a scientific apprentice named Rees, is propelled by intellectual curiosity, and readers accompany him on his journey of incredible discovery and learning. This character, and those that feature in the rest of the sequence, are fairly believable, although Baxter’s characterisation is stronger in later works. Readers who are not scientifically trained may also find some of the scientific sections in the Xeelee sequence a little too intellectual.

One of Baxter’s most highly acclaimed works is Time Ships (1995), the authorised sequel to H.G. Wells’s  The Time Machine. Again, this is an ambitious work, for writing a sequel to a classic novel by another author is a risky business, but Baxter succeeds superbly and his novel is well-loved by sci-fi readers as well as applauded by critics. At the end of The Time Machine , the Time Traveller sets off on more adventures – announcing that he will "be right back" – and Baxter thus takes up where Wells left off. Having failed to save his Eloi friend Weena from the cannibal Morlocks, the Traveller tries once again to rescue her. However, he discovers that his time travelling has altered the future, and the novel abounds with paradoxes, multiple universes and an endless quest for knowledge and understanding. Baxter’s detailed scientific research and inventiveness combine with a perceptive understanding of Wells’s novel, creating a new work of fiction which is both faithful to the original and an impressive novel in its own right, embodying Baxter’s epic style.

This epic approach to science fiction, in which Baxter poses big questions about life, humanity and the universe, continues in the Manifold trilogy: Time (1999), Space (2000) and Origin (2001). The trilogy explores the evolution of humankind and the history of the cosmos, positing multiple possibilities and alternative realities, particularly with regard to the possible existence of other life-forms in the universe. Baxter explores Fermi’s Paradox, which posits that there has been enough time for other life-forms to develop, yet thinks: "If they existed, they would be here" (Enrico Fermi). The same characters feature throughout the trilogy, but each of the three novels offers a different answer to Fermi’s Paradox. Baxter’s detailed and logical speculations and extrapolations subvert our self-centred notion that humans are at the centre of the universe, suggesting the insignificance of our place in the grand scheme of things. Again, the weakness is characterisation, but the plot is gripping and fast-paced. Fans of hard science fiction will not be disappointed by the vast scale of ideas and intellectual debate, presented in a manner which is entertaining and imaginative as well as extremely thought-provoking.

Baxter’s recent works have been highly acclaimed, particularly Flood (2008) and its sequel, Ark (2009). Instead of space-travel, Flood concentrates on Earth – specifically, the plight of the planet under global warming – and thus strikes a chord with the fears of contemporary readers. The seas have risen dramatically, from 1.5 metres in 2010 to 200 metres by the middle of the twenty-first century and, consequently, most of the Earth’s surface has been submerged and millions die. In Ark , we are once again in the realms of space-travel, as a chosen few travel to the planet Earth II, on a long-haul mission to find a new habitation for mankind. As always, Baxter’s narrative abounds with hard science, as one reviewer comments: "we receive a crash course in everything from oceanography to meteorology, with a smattering of other science besides" (Eric Brown, The Guardian , 23 July 2008). Yet this does not detract from the gripping nature of these two novels: in both Ark and Flood , the disaster story is dynamic and engaging, as Baxter offers a compelling picture of the worst-case scenario of environmental disaster. Although the outlook for the planet is bleak, the main characters are strong and spirited, and represent humanity’s determination to survive. They are depicted in more psychological depth than those in Baxter’s earlier works, and he pays more attention to the intimate details of their lives and experiences. However, he does not lose sight of the bigger picture in which these individuals are struggling to survive, and once again presents a story of epic proportions.

In 2009, Baxter published Starfall , a novella which accompanies the Xeelee sequence. 2010 will see the publication of Xeelee: An Omnibus , comprising Raft , Timelike Infinity , Flux and Ring .

Elizabeth O’Reilly, 2010

Bibliography

Related links:.

• http://www.stephen-baxter.com/

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The Life and Work of H.G. Wells

The prolific author of 'The Time Machine' and 'The War of the Worlds'

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Herbert George Wells, more commonly known as H.G. Wells (September 21, 1866-August 13, 1946), was a prolific English author of fiction and non-fiction . Wells is best-remembered, however, for his famous science fiction novels and uncanny predictions about the future.

Fast Facts: H.G. Wells

• Full Name:  Herbert George Wells
• Occupation:  Writer
• Born:  September 21, 1866, Bromley, England
• Died:  August 13, 1946, London, England 
• Spouse(s) : Isabel Mary Wells (1891-1894); Amy Catherine Robbins (1895-1927)
• Children : G.P. Wells, Frank Wells, Anna-Jane Wells, Anthony West
• Published Works : "The Time Machine," "The Island of Doctor Moreau," "The Wheels of Chance," "The Invisible Man," "The War of the Worlds"
• Key Accomplishments : Pioneered the science fiction genre and wrote more than 100 books during his 60-plus year career. 

Early Years

H.G. Wells was born on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, England. His parents, Joseph Wells and Sarah Neal, worked as domestic servants before using a small inheritance to purchase a hardware store. Known as Bertie to his family, Wells had three older siblings. The family lived in poverty for many years as the store provided a limited income due to poor location and inferior merchandise.

At the age of 7, after Wells suffered an accident that left him bedridden, he became a voracious reader of everything from Charles Dickens to Washington Irving . When the family store finally went under, his mother went to work as a housekeeper at a large estate. It was there Wells was able to expand his literary horizons with authors such as Voltaire .  

At the age of 18, Wells received a scholarship to the Normal School of Science, where he studied biology. He later attended London University. After graduating in 1888, Wells became a science teacher. His first book, the "Textbook of Biology," was published in 1893.

Personal Life

Wells married his cousin, Isabel Mary Wells, in 1891, but left her in 1894 for a former student, Amy Catherine Robbins. The couple married in 1895. Wells' first fiction novel, " The Time Machine ," was published the same year. The book brought Wells instant fame, inspiring him to embark on a serious career as a writer.

Famous Works

Wells long- and short-form fiction falls into many genres, including science-fiction, fantasy, dystopian fiction, satire , and tragedy. Wells penned plenty of non-fiction, including biographies, autobiographies , social commentaries, and textbooks as well as social commentary, history, biography, autobiography, and recreational war games.

Wells' 1895 debut, "The Time Machine," was followed by " The Island of Doctor Moreau " (1896), " The Invisible Man " (1897), and "The War of the Worlds" (1898). All four novels have been adapted for film, however, one of the most famous renditions of a Wells work was by Orson Welles, whose radio adaptation of " The War of the Worlds " was broadcast on October 30, 1938.

The reports that many listeners, not realizing what they were hearing was a radio play rather than a news broadcast and were so terrorized at the prospect of an alien invasion that they fled their homes in fear has since been debunked. However, the panic story was accepted for years and became one of the most enduring urban legends ever perpetrated in the name of a publicity campaign.

H.G. Wells died on August 13, 1946, at the age of 79 of unspecified causes (his death has been attributed to a heart attack or a liver tumor). Wells' ashes were scattered at sea in Southern England near a series of three chalk formations known as  Old Harry Rocks .

Impact and Legacy

H.G. Wells liked to say that he wrote "scientific romances." Today, we refer to this style of writing as science fiction. Wells' influence on this genre is so significant that he, along with French author Jules Verne , share the title of "the father of science fiction."

Wells was among the first to write about such things as time machines and alien invasions. His most famous works have never been out of print, and their influence is still apparent in modern books, films, and television shows.

Wells also made a number of social and scientific predictions in his writing—including airplane and  space travel , the  atomic bomb , and even the automatic door—that have since come to pass. These prophetic imaginings are part of Wells' legacy and one of the things he is most famous for.

H.G. Wells often commented on art, people, government, and social issues. Here are some characteristic examples:

"I found that, taking almost anything as a starting point and letting my thoughts play about with it, there would presently come out of the darkness, in a manner quite inexplicable, some absurd or vivid little nucleus."

"Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions, great or small."

"If you fell down yesterday, stand up today."

• “Bibliography.”  The H.G. Wells Society , 12 Mar. 2015, hgwellssociety.com/bibliography/.
• Da Silva, Matheus. “The Legacy of H. G. Wells in Society and Science Fiction.”  Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University , pages.erau.edu/~andrewsa/sci_fi_projects_spring_2017/Project_1/Da_Silva_Matt/Project_1/Project_1.html.
• “H.G. Wells.”  Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/people/hg-wells-39224 .
• James, Simon John. “HG Wells: A visionary who should be remembered for his social predictions, not just his scientific ones.”  The Independent , Independent Digital News and Media, 22 Sept. 2016, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hg-wells-a-visionary-who-should-be-remembered-for-his-social-predictions-not-just-his-scientific-a7320486.html .
• Nicholson, Norman Cornthwaite. “H.G. Wells.”  Encyclopædia Britannica , Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 15 Nov. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/H-G-Wells .
• “The Man Who Invented Tomorrow From The Science of Science-Fiction Writing, by James Gunn.”  University of Kansas Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction , www.sfcenter.ku.edu/tomorrow.htm.
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Harlan Ellison Dies at 84; Prolific, Irascible (Science) Fiction Writer

By Richard Sandomir

• June 29, 2018

Harlan Ellison, a furiously prolific and cantankerous writer whose science fiction and fantasy stories reflected a personality so intense that they often read as if he were punching his manual typewriter keys with his fists, died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 84.

His wife, Susan Ellison, confirmed his death but said she did not know the cause. He had had a stroke and heart surgery in recent years.

Mr. Ellison looked at storytelling as a “holy chore,” which he pursued zealously for more than 60 years. His output includes more than 1,700 short stories and articles, at least 100 books and dozens of screenplays and television scripts. And although he was ranked with eminent science fiction writers like Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, he insisted that he wrote speculative fiction, or simply fiction.

“Call me a science fiction writer,” Mr. Ellison said on the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) in the 1990s. “I’ll come to your house and I’ll nail your pet’s head to a coffee table. I’ll hit you so hard your ancestors will die.”

Mr. Ellison’s best-known work includes “A Boy and His Dog” (1969), a novella set in a postapocalyptic wasteland of the United States, which was made into a 1975 movie; “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” (1967), a short story about a computer that tortures the last five humans on earth; “The City on the Edge of Forever,” a beloved back-in-time episode of the “Star Trek” television series in 1967; and “ ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1965), about a futuristic society in which time is regimented by a fearsome figure called the Ticktockman.

“But no one called him that to his mask,” Mr. Ellison wrote. “You don’t call a man a hated name, not when that man, behind his mask, is capable of revoking the minutes, the hours, the days and nights, the years of his life. He was called the Master Timekeeper to his mask.”

Mr. Ellison was a fast-talking, pipe-smoking polymath who once delighted talk-show hosts like Merv Griffin and Tom Snyder with his views on atheism, elitism, violence and Scientology.

He could be wild, angry and litigious. He said that he lost his job with the Walt Disney Company — on the first day — when he stood up in its commissary (with company executives watching) and described how he wanted to make an animated pornographic film starring Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

He is said to have sent a dead gopher to a publisher and attacked an ABC executive, breaking his pelvis.

He frequently criticized studios and television producers when he believed they had copied his stories. His many lawsuits included one against the makers of the movie “The Terminator,” which accused them of plagiarizing “Soldier,” a script he wrote in 1964 for the TV series “The Outer Limits.”

And he remained upset for years that Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek,” and others had made rewrites to his script for “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Decades later, he sued CBS Paramount TV for merchandising royalties that he felt he was owed from the episode.

Ms. Ellison said that her husband eventually put his “Star Trek” imbroglio behind him. But he would never watch the classic episode.

“Let’s not go that far,” she said in a telephone interview.

Harlan Jay Ellison was born on May 27, 1934, in Cleveland. His father, Louis, was a dentist and jeweler, and his mother, Serita (Rosenthal) Ellison, worked in a thrift store. Growing up, partly in Painesville, Ohio, about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland, he was bullied in school, largely for being Jewish. The experience made him feel like an outsider and fueled his anger.

“I survived their tender mercies with nothing more debilitating to show for it than a lifelong, blood-drenched obsession for revenge,” he wrote in “Harlan Ellison’s Watching,” a collection of film reviews first published in 1989.

That anger imbued his writing, said James Gunn, the founding director of the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

“Some writers were able to detach themselves and write objectively,” Mr. Gunn said in a telephone interview, “but you could always sense that Harlan was in there yelling. You could hear Bradbury in his stories, but he was not violent at all; he had a melancholy attitude.”

After his father died, Harlan moved back to Cleveland with his mother and his sister, Beverly, in 1949 and started the Cleveland Science Fiction Club, became a frequent moviegoer and worked as a runner for local mobsters, he told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

He left home several times, traveling around the country and variously working on a tuna boat, as a truckdriver and as a short-order cook, among other jobs.

Mr. Ellison attended Ohio State University but left after two years. At one point he punched an English professor who had told him that he did not see any writing talent in him. Thereafter, Mr. Ellison sent copies of his published stories to the professor.

In the mid-1950s he began publishing a torrent of work — in publications like Galaxy and Fantastic Science Fiction — that would continue for years. He wrote stories, novels and novellas. He edited anthologies like “Dangerous Visions” (1967) and a sequel. And he wrote episodes of television series like “Route 66,” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” the 1980s revival of “The Twilight Zone” and, improbably, “The Flying Nun” (an episode in which Sally Field’s character, Sister Bertrille, and two other nuns land on a remote island).

In 1965, he found he had become a character in Gay Talese’s celebrated New Journalism article “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold , ” published in Esquire magazine. By Mr. Talese’s account, Sinatra, annoyed at the boots that Mr. Ellison was wearing in the pool room of a private club in Beverly Hills, asked him what he did for a living.

“I’m a plumber,” Mr. Ellison answered.

When someone interjected that Mr. Ellison had written the screenplay of “The Oscar,” a forthcoming film, Sinatra replied: “Oh, yeah? Well, I’ve seen it, and it’s a piece of crap.”

Mr. Ellison then said, “That’s strange, because they haven’t even released it.” (It was released in 1966.)

He left after few more testy exchanges with Sinatra. (Sinatra, coincidentally, had a cameo role in “The Oscar.”)

By the time he encountered Sinatra, Mr. Ellison was already reviewing movies and writing essays about buddy films and other genres.

Most of the movies he reviewed were mainstream productions like “Rosemary’s Baby” (which he loved) and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (which he called “stultifyingly predictable”).

In a review of “Harlan Ellison’s Watching” in The New York Times in 1989, Robert Moss wrote that “one is never tempted to stop reading” despite Mr. Ellison’s occasional windiness. His criticism, Mr. Moss added, “has some of the spellbinding quality of a great nonstop talker with a cultural warehouse for a mind.”

In recent years, Mr. Ellison wrote a graphic novel, “7 Against Chaos” (2013),” with the artist Paul Chadwick for DC Comics. About 30 of his stories were reissued digitally. He published “None of the Above,” an unproduced screenplay based on “Bug Jack Barron,” a story by Norman Spinrad, a science fiction writer who had been his friend since the 1950s.

Mr. Ellison was also the star of “Dreams With Sharp Teeth” (2008), a documentary feature about his life directed by Erik Nelson. In the film, which showcases Mr. Ellison’s fierce, volcanic and argumentative personality, he is described as a “hurricane,” “an alternately impish and furious 11-year-old boy” and, by his friend Robin Williams, “a skin graft on a leper.”

In describing her husband’s friendship with Mr. Williams, Ms. Ellison said, “Talent will find talent.”

His marriage to Susan Toth, his only immediate survivor, was his fifth; his four previous marriages ended in divorce.

Isaac Asimov once called Mr. Ellison “one of the best writers in the world.” But he lamented that Mr. Ellison had too often been sidetracked by his furies.

“It is simply terrible that that he should be constantly embroiled in matters which really have nothing to do with his writing and which slow him down tragically,” Mr. Asimov wrote in 1994 in his autobiography, “I, Asimov.”

He added: “He claims he is five feet four inches tall, but it doesn’t really matter. In talent, energy and courage, he is eight feet tall.”

John Schwartz contributed reporting.

FAMOUS AUTHORS

• 10 Famous Science Fiction Authors You Must Be Reading

Often called “The Father of Science Fiction” along with H.G.Wells and Hugo Gernsback, as well as the second most translated author between Agatha Christie and William Shakespeare, Jules Verne had a profound influence on most of Europe and the genre of science fiction. He was a French novelist, poet and playwright.

Best Books: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) Around the World in Eighty Days (1873)

When one thinks of science fiction authors, H. G. Wells is probably one of the first names that come to mind. Not only was he the best but also the most impactful in the sci-fi genre with some smash hit novels that are still ripe to be spawned into films. He wrote novels, history, social commentaries, textbooks and is also labeled “Prophet of Science Fiction” among Gernsback and Verne.

Best known for publishing Amazing Stories, the first magazine in the genesis of science fiction, Gernsback was an editor, writer, publisher and inventor. His significance in the field of sci-fi is manifested in the fact that annual awards presented at the World Science Fiction Convention are named “Hugos” in his honour.

Best Book: Ralph 124C 41+ (1911)

The first person to be named the Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974, Heinlein is a legend when it comes to the Sci-Fi genre. As controversial as he was influential, Heinlein took the science of his writings very seriously and raised the bar for Sci-Fi’s literary quality on the whole. He has won Hugos, Retro Hugos, was the bestselling science-fiction writers only to be succeeded by Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke (collectively referred to as ‘The Big Three’) and even invented some words of the English language. He anticipated early descriptions of the waterbed and the cell phone in his novels many years before they were invented.

Best Book: Starship Troopers (1959)

Owing to his monumental career, Clarke is called the “Prophet of the Space Age” and the third member of “The Big Three” science fiction writers. Arthur C. Clarke was a British science fiction author, inventor, undersea explorer and TV host. He has won many prestigious honours such as Nebulas, Hugos, Kalinga Prize from UNESCO and Sri Lankabhimanya in Sri Lanka. His masterwork novel, is not only the most influential book but also a well-received movie.

Best Book: A Space Odyssey (2001)

Author of the most multi-layered and intricate novel of the sci-fi genre, Dune (1965), Frank Herbert was not only a magnanimously successful sci-fi author but also a short story writer,  journalist, book reviewer, photographer, ecological consultant and teacher. His literary  career revolved around his magnum opus and its five sequels which were translated in over  a dozen languages, stands as the bestselling sci-fi novels of all time and won Nebula and Hugo  awards for best novel in 1966.

Best Book: Dune Series

Possibly the most popular of the “The Big Three of Sci-Fi”, Asimov was a biochemistry teacher by profession and a prolific science fiction writer. He published over 500 books with books included under ever section of the Dewey Decimal Classification except for philosophy. His three major series of novels set the stage for modern sci-fi novels much like Heinlein.

Best Books: Foundation Series Galactic Empire Series Robot Series

One of the most widely read and loved authors of his generation, Ray Bradbury was the giant of science fiction and fantasy. He left a legacy of books, film, television and theatre apart from inspiring many sci-fi writers that were yet to come and fueling further interest in futuristic literature with his masterpiece novels.

Best Books: The Martian Chronicles (1950) Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Father of modern cyberpunk, and sometimes called the most important novelist of the past two decades, William Gibson is acclaimed for coining the term “cyberspace” and laying the early foundations for the rise of the information age, reality television, virtual environment and the world wide web. Gibson has authored twenty short stories and ten critically acclaimed novels and many articles for major publications.

Best Book: Neuromancer (1984)

Often referred to as the voice of modern science fiction, Orson Scott Card is an American novelist, public speaker, professor and producer. He won Nebulas and Hugos for the first two parts of Ender’s Saga for two consecutive years – the first person to receive these prestigious awards twice in a row.

Best Book: Ender’s Game Series

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13 Famous Sci-Fi Authors Worth Reading

Are you a fan of science fiction literature? Do you want to explore the worlds of imaginative and visionary famous sci-fi authors who have expanded the borders of our imagination with their gripping narratives? 

In this article, you’ll learn more about the most famous and best science fiction authors of all time and their must-read books. So, whether you’re an occasional reader or just starting to venture, you’re sure to find something that piques your interest in this list of captivating stories. So, let us get started!

Table of Contents

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov, a prolific science fiction author and biochemistry professor, was widely known to be one of the most significant literary voices of the 20th century. 

He authored over 500 books and countless short stories., making him one of the most productive writers in history.

Asimov authored several influential books that shaped the science fiction genre. One of his most notable works was the “Foundation” series. The series won multiple Hugo Awards, cementing Asimov’s place as one of the most influential and famous sci-fi authors ever.

Must-Read Book: Foundation Trilogy

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Isaac Asimov’s  Foundation  trilogy is one of history’s most pioneering works of science fiction. It is renowned for its intricate plot, complex characters, and exploration of sociopolitical themes such as governance, power, and rebellion. 

It tells the story of a mathematician named Hari Seldon, who predicts the collapse of a galactic empire and establishes a foundation to preserve knowledge and ensure a smoother transition into the future.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin, an acclaimed American author who wrote science fiction and fantasy, is acknowledged as one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. 

Throughout her career, she authored numerous novels, short stories, and poems that explored themes of gender, politics, and society in imaginative ways.

Her works, such as  The Left Hand of Darkness  and  The Dispossessed,  have been praised for their insightful commentary on power, freedom, and morality. 

Le Guin was recognized as one of the greatest sci-fi writers of her century when she received the National Book Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to American Letters in 2014.

Must-Read Book: The Left Hand of Darkness

The Left Hand of Darkness  occurs in Gethen, where the inhabitants are androgynous and have no fixed gender identity. 

The story follows the character of Genly Ai, an envoy from Earth who is sent to Gethen to convince its leaders to join a coalition of planets.

As Genly Ai navigates the complexities of Gethenian society, he encounters various characters, including the Prime Minister of Karhide, Estraven, and the Gethenian Lord of Estre, Tibe. 

Through his interactions with these characters, Genly Ai begins to understand the unique challenges of communication and diplomacy in a fundamentally different society.

The Left Hand of Darkness’s main topic is the flux of gender and how it affects identity and society. Le Guin’s depiction of Gethenian civilization questions conventional ideas of gender and pushes readers to think about how cultural expectations and standards affect how we perceive ourselves and others.

Ray Bradbury

American novelist Ray Bradbury, born in 1920, made a tremendous impact and became among the most significant science fiction writers. He produced multiple science fiction novels, including the renowned  Fahrenheit 451  and over 600 short stories. 

Bradbury received various honors during his career, including the  National Medal of Arts  in 2004 and the title Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. 

Themes like the perils of technology, the nature of humanity, and the value of creativity were all tackled in Bradbury’s literature. 

Must-Read Book: Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury’s apocalyptic book  Fahrenheit 451  was released in 1953. 

In this novel, books are forbidden in America, and “firemen” are entrusted with destroying any discovered. Guy Montag, the protagonist, is a fireman who starts to doubt his place in society and eventually runs away after being found in possession of a book.

Bradbury ponders issues like censorship, the value of education, and the perils of uniformity throughout the book. The characters are deep and diverse, with Guy Montag going through a dramatic transition as he starts questioning authority and humanity’s purpose. 

The novel  Fahrenheit 451  has received high praise for its potent social satire and ability to connect with readers of all ages.

Frank Herbert

Among the significant science fiction authors, Frank Herbert is best known for his sweeping  Dune  trilogy. It is recognized for its complex world-building, political issues, and intriguing characters. It has been transformed into various media, including a 2021 movie starring Timothée Chalamet.

He started writing professionally in the 1950s, and during his career, he near future-both short stories and novels was widely distributed. 

Must-Read Book: Dune

Dune was first released in 1965. It centers on Paul Atreides, a young nobleman overseeing the desert planet Arrakis, the sole source of the spice melange. 

Paul finds himself involved in a power battle involving opposing groups and frightening monsters as he navigates Arrakis’ intricate political system. He gains incredible skills along the road and struggles with his fate.

Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica, and his opponent, Baron Harkonnen, are among the book’s memorable characters. 

Robert Heinlein

Heinlein, also one of the most famous sci-fi authors, produced many books and short tales throughout his career, covering various subjects, including individualism, political philosophy, and space travel.

Several of Heinlein’s ideas and concepts have become permanent fixtures of science fiction, significantly affecting popular culture. For instance, he popularized the idea of a “waterbed” in his book  Stranger in a Strange Place , which brought it to the globe. 

Must-Read Book: Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers  follows the story of Juan “Johnnie” Rico, a young man who joins the military to fight against an alien species called the “Bugs.” The book features secondary characters such as Johnnie’s love interest, Carmen Ibanez, and his mentor, Sergeant Zim. 

Heinlein weaves in aspects of military strategy and tactics as Johnnie and his troops battle the Bugs. This resulted in the novel being praised for its realistic portrayal of military life and battle and its examination of complex political and social issues.

Arthur C. Clarke

British science fiction author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke was born in Somerset in 1917. He is well known for his novel  2001: A Space Odyssey , which Stanley Kubrick subsequently turned into a critically acclaimed movie.

Clarke was also a prolific writer of short stories, essays, and nonfiction books. Along with his literary accomplishments, Clarke was a forward-thinking individual who prophesied several technical developments that have subsequently come to pass, including satellite communication and the internet.

Over his career, many accolades and prizes, like the Nebula, Hugo, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards, were bestowed on Clarke. In 1997, he was honored with a spot in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Must-Read Book: Space Odyssey Series

Space Odyssey  consists of  2001: A Space Odyssey ,  2010: Odyssey Two ,  2061: Odyssey Three , and  3001: The Last Odyssey .

The first novel, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” inspired the great Stanley Kubrick film. 

The plot centers on an astronaut team traveling to Jupiter with the help of the intelligent computer HAL 9000. They come across a mysterious black monolith along the road that appears to have a significant impact on their voyage and humanity’s future.

In  2010: Odyssey Two,  a combined Soviet-American expedition is dispatched to Jupiter to investigate what happened in the first book. They learn that a formidable extraterrestrial intellect is at work. So they are forced to act quickly to avert a catastrophe that might endanger all life on Earth.

A few decades later, in  2061: Odyssey Three , a new expedition to investigate a comet that has entered the solar system is followed. The group learns about the monoliths and their significance in human history.

The final book in the series,  3001: The Final Odyssey , is set a millennium after the first events. As he explores a very different universe and learns a devastating fact about the real nature of the monoliths and their purpose, the plot follows a revived astronaut from the previous novel.

Jules Verne

French author, poet, and dramatist Jules Verne were born in Nantes, France, in 1828. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of science fiction and is well-known for his innovative and forward-thinking work.

Early on, Verne concentrated on writing plays and short tales, but his adventure books, such as  Journey to the Center of the Earth  and  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ,” helped him achieve fame. 

These books and  From the Earth to the Moon  comprise the  Voyages Extraordinaires  series, solidifying Jules Verne’s standing as a science fiction author.

Must-Read Book: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne’s famous science fiction book, “ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ,” was first released in 1870. 

During their dangerous quest to find a strange sea creature that has been terrifying ships, Professor Pierre Aronnax, his devoted servant Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner Ned Land are followed throughout the novel. 

Their exploration, however, takes an unexpected turn when they learn that the creature is the Nautilus, an advanced submarine created and commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo.

The protagonists encounter a variety of exotic marine life and extraordinary natural occurrences as they journey into the ocean’s depths onboard the Nautilus. 

In addition, they get into a series of clashes with Captain Nemo, who has a bitter hatred for humans and their negative effects on the environment and other hazardous marine monsters.

William Gibson

American-Canadian science fiction author William Gibson is one of the forerunners of the cyberpunk subgenre. The Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award are just a few of the accolades he has received for his writing.

Gibson is renowned for his futuristic explorations of technology, society, and human identity. His first book,  Neuromancer , which won the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award, is what most people remember him for.

Gibson is the author of several other well-praised books, including  Count Zero ,  Mona Lisa Overdrive , and  Pattern Recognition . He also has written scripts and worked with other creatives, such as musician Brian Eno.

Must-Read Book: Neuromancer

In 1984, William Gibson released the science fiction book  Neuromancer . 

Set in a dystopian future, corporations have replaced governments as the dominant force, and cybernetic implants are now a feasible option for enhancing human bodies. 

The novel’s protagonist is Case, a former computer hacker who an unidentified employer hires to carry out a hacking operation that can potentially alter the course of history.

Mary Shelley

A British novelist, Mary Shelley, is primarily known for the Gothic book  Frankenstein . She was the daughter of political philosopher William Godwin and feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, who lived in London at the time of her birth in 1797. 

When Shelley was just eighteen years old, she started writing  Frankenstein.  In 1818, the book was published, however, under an assumed name. 

Other important works by Shelley include the post-apocalyptic book  The Last Man  which was released in 1826, and the novel  Mathilda , which wasn’t released until 1959. 

As a female novelist in the early 19th century, Shelley’s literary accomplishments were ground-breaking. Even famous authors like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne were influenced by her writing. 

Must-Read Book: Frankenstein

In  Frankenstein,  a young scientist Victor Frankenstein produces a hideous yet sentient monster. 

Before ultimately succeeding in bringing his brainchild to life, he spends years performing covert experiments in his lab. Victor quickly regrets his actions after creating the horrifying and ugly monster.

However, the creature is intellectual and empathetic. It eventually longs for a company, setting off a fatal series of events. 

The concept of Frankenstein’s monster has evolved into an iconic presence in literature and culture because of the book’s various film, television, and stage adaptations.

Margaret Atwood

Canadian author Margaret Atwood is renowned for her critically acclaimed novels, poetry, and essays. 

Atwood, born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1939, began writing at a young age and later pursued studies in English literature at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Toronto.

Atwood has garnered various honors for her literary works, including the coveted Booker Prize, which she won twice for  The Blind Assassin  (2000) and  The Testaments  (2019). She has received the Franz Kafka Prize, the Governor General’s Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, among others.

Social justice, environmental conservation, and feminism are all common topics in Atwood’s writing. Her best-known work,  The Handmaid’s Tale , has become a cultural classic and has been made into a lucrative television series. 

In the novel, women are deprived of their rights and made to act as surrogates for affluent families in a dystopian future.

Atwood has authored  over 50 books , spanning fiction, nonfiction, and poetry collections. Her works have received recognition for their strong storytelling, complex symbolism, and vivid imagery.

Must-Read Book: The Heart Goes Last

The Heart Goes Last  shows Attwood’s captivating writing style that skillfully combines themes of love, grief, power, and control. 

The setting for the book is a near-future world where the economy has crashed and crime rates have increased. During the narrative, Stan and Charmaine, a married couple, struggle to make it through each day.

After losing their employment and house, the couple has little choice but to live in their automobile. They choose to participate after seeing an advertisement for the Positron Project, a social experiment. 

The participants in the initiative will reside in a model suburban neighborhood where every aspect of their life will be managed and observed by the government. 

The members rotate between living in the community and working as convicts in the adjacent jail in exchange for a pleasant lifestyle.

As the plot develops, Stan and Charmaine learn that the project is not what it first appears to be, and they become caught up in a web of fraud and corruption. They are compelled to make challenging decisions to defend one another and themselves.

Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin has won multiple awards for his writing, including the esteemed  Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015 .

He began writing science fiction in the early 1990s, and his 2008 release of  The Three-Body Problem  in China helped him become well-known. 

The trilogy’s first volume, “ Remembrance of Earth’s Past ,” has earned various accolades, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015, which made Liu the first Asian author to receive the honor.

In addition to science fiction, Liu has penned several nonfiction books and articles. He is renowned for examining scientific ideas and incorporating Chinese history and cultural elements into his writing.

Must-Read Book: Three-Body Problem

The Trisolarans are an extraterrestrial society that humans first encounter in the novel. They are from a planet with three suns and chaotic, erratic weather patterns. 

It centers on Ye Wenjie, a scientist who suffers tragedy at the hands of the state and looks for consolation by getting in touch with an alien race.

More people are introduced as the plot develops, including Wang Miao, a nanomaterials researcher who discovers an online mystery game that appears to be related to the Trisolarans. 

The book examines issues including the Fermi paradox, the morality of interacting with extraterrestrial civilizations, and the very essence of humankind.

Orson Scott Card

American novelist Orson Scott Card is well-known for his work in the science fiction and fantasy genres. 

The book  Ender’s Game , which took home the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1986, is Card’s best-known creation. 

The  Alvin Maker  series, the  Homecoming Saga , and  Speaker for the Dead , the follow-up to  Ender’s Game , are some of his other significant works.

Card has also penned countless short tales and more than 50 books. 

Must-Read Book: Ender’s Game

The science fiction book  Ender’s Game  centers on a young boy named Ender Wiggin, who the government chooses to enroll at Battle School, a facility created to prepare kids to serve as military leaders in a conflict against an alien civilization. 

Ender establishes himself as a great tactician and moves up the ranks fast. Still, as he prepares for the aliens’ ultimate fight, he must deal with moral ambiguity, loneliness, and manipulation. The story looks at issues like loyalty, leadership, and the effects of violence.

Dan Simmons

American author Dan Simmons has earned multiple honors for his science fiction and horror writing, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Awards. 

He has written in various genres, including science fiction, horror, and historical fiction, and is renowned for his flexibility. He is behind some of the most well-known books, such as  Hyperion ,  The Terror , and  Ilium .

Aside from having a strong literary career, Simmons has also held positions as a college lecturer and high school teacher.

Must-Read Book: Hyperion

Hyperion  takes place in a far-off future where humankind has colonized the whole galaxy and is split into many groups. 

The plot centers on a group of seven pilgrims who journey to Hyperion, searching for the enigmatic and potent Time Tombs. Each pilgrim shares their trip, explaining why they traveled and became acquainted with the Time Tombs. 

A priest, a soldier, a poet, a scholar, a detective, a diplomat, and a cyborg are among the characters.

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H. G. Wells is only mentioned in conjunction with Mary Shelley. He needs to be on this list. His novels (The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, When the Sleeper Wakes, The First Men in the Moon, The Food of the Gods, The Shape of Things to Come) and short stories were much more influential than many of the names listed. I know Heinlein indicated that Wells and Kipling were key influences on his work.

Additionally, Edgar Rice Burroughs continues to influence modern authors and references to his Martian novels continue to show up in books spanning from Heinlein to Erik Flint.

Philip K Dick should definitely be on this list. Is there an author with more direct Hollywood adaptations?

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Where Brilliance Belongs

Isaac Asimov: Writer, Polymath, Chemist, Mensan

Mensans recount the literary icon and former colleague 100 years after his birth.

Ian Randal Strock & Richard Lederer  |  January 2, 2020

Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific writers working in the English language, a world-renowned genius with deep knowledge in many fields. He was also an on-and-off member of Mensa starting in 1962 and Mensa International’s Honorary Vice President from 1974 to 1989.

Jan. 2, 2020, is the centennial of his birth. In honor of that milestone, we present these words on one of our organization’s most famous members.

Remembering the Literary Icon I Worked With

I discovered science fiction in elementary school and started by reading whatever was available at the library, so I know the first SF novel I read was something unmemorable.

In high school, I subscribed to the science fiction book club, picking books by size. Three-in-one, five-in-one, seven ?! I was all over that. The authors? I had no idea. But that’s how I wound up reading Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber series: seven complete books in two volumes! That’s also how I discovered Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern (at least, the first three, which were in that large, purple, three-in-one volume). It wasn’t until many years later, while I was working as an editor at Analog , that I discovered the first Pern book had actually first been serialized in Analog . And that’s how I came to have the big, thick, black-and-white-covered Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov: because it was “three books in one volume, 800 pages.”

Sophomore year in high school, we lived in Buffalo, N.Y., and my mother, my sister, and I were taking the train to New York City for Passover with my grandparents. We got to the train at the last moment, scurried aboard with a week’s worth of luggage, and made our way to the only available seats in the car, which were those seats in the middle of the car, facing each other. I fell into my seat, breathed, looked up … and saw I was looking at my French teacher and his wife. Eight hours of looking at and talking with one of my teachers? That was not happening.

I buried my nose in the book I’d brought and read the entirety of Foundation on the train to New York. At first, I was avoiding an awkward situation. But it wasn’t long before I was hooked on the book. I read Foundation and Empire , the second book in the series, while we were in New York, and Second Foundation , the third, on the train on the way home (even though I wasn’t facing my French teacher).

In college, I read Isaac’s Murder at the ABA and realized that if I was ever going to be a writer, I wanted to be a writer who, like Isaac, could get away with writing himself into a book as the comic relief. That, instantly, became my definition of having made it as a writer.

Isaac took credit for writing (or putting together and writing introductions in anthologies and such) 477 books, which means I’m only about 471 books behind him. But because I spend most of my word creation time editing and publishing other people’s work, I doubt I’ll ever be able to match Isaac’s mark.

In college, I discovered that I am an editor and a writer. I worked at the student-owned daily newspaper and learned my trade.

I was also part of the student government and tried to set up a lecture series. Because I was at Boston University, I decided to aim high. I knew Isaac Asimov was a Boston University professor, so I wrote to him, asking him to speak in my new lecture series. He wrote back on a postcard, thanking me for the invitation but declining. That was my first direct contact with him.

After college, I moved to New York and got a job in publishing. It was the wrong job, and it wasn’t very long before my boss and I mutually agreed I needed to be working elsewhere.

I saw a three-line help wanted ad in the New York Times : “Wanted: editorial assistant for science fiction magazine. 380 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016.” I said, “I know that address. I’ve been sending them stories. That’s either Analog or Asimov’s .” And I sent them a resume with a cover letter that basically said, “Gimme the job, gimme the job, gimme the job!”

Two interviews later, they gave me the job.

I started working on a cold Monday in the middle of January. My second day, Jan. 17, 1989, I was sitting in the office (the entire editorial department for both Analog and Asimov’s was one room, about 12 by 25 feet, with five desks, four filing cabinets, and a bunch of bookshelves) and heard singing coming down the hall. The door opened, and in walked a bundle of woolen winter clothes. As he took off a furry hat, a thick scarf, and a large gray coat, I saw a cheerful, gray-haired nebbish with glasses and heavy sideburns. Sure, I’d seen pictures before, but this was ISAAC ASIMOV, in the flesh.

After he settled in, my boss, Sheila Williams (now the editor of Asimov’s ), introduced us. “Isaac, this is our new assistant, Ian.” He looked up at me; I looked down at him.

“You’re not a cute little girl,” he said. My two immediate predecessors had apparently been 5-foot-nothing and very attractive.

“You’re not a 10-foot-tall god,” I replied. I had to say something, after all.

“I’m not going to make up a limerick for you,” he said.

We laughed and were friends for the next three years.

Joel Davis was the publisher and owner of Davis Publications, which in the mid-1970s acquired Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine . In 1980, he bought Analog . But in 1976, he decided to launch a science fiction magazine and approached Isaac about putting his name on the cover. Isaac was unwilling to edit the magazine but allowed his name to be used and took the title of editorial director (with the proviso that he would continue writing his regular science column in the now-competitor Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ). Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (which was its original title; now it’s simply called Asimov’s Science Fiction ) launched in late 1976, with Isaac writing each issue’s editorial and answering the letters to the editor.

The first three issues featured Isaac’s photo, very large, as the artwork. For the next eight issues, his photo was shrunken into the O in his last name, along with typical magazine cover art. Then his face was removed from the cover, except for occasional special appearances (for instance, November 1991, April 1992, and April 1993).

By the time I joined the magazine, Isaac’s routine was to come into the office for an hour or two every Tuesday. And the day I met him was no different (other than our introduction): He’d ask Sheila and Gardner Dozois, who at the time was the editor, if there was anything going on that he needed to know. They’d tell him everything was fine with the magazine and hand him the latest stack of letters to the editor (at the time, they came only on paper). He’d hand in his editorial every few weeks and a stack of letters with his answers. Then we’d spend the next hour or so chatting. I sat there almost mute — I was just a kid, and this was ISAAC — listening to him tell stories. It was wonderful!

Isaac was a great storyteller, a cheerful singer; he loved to tell jokes, and I hung on his every word.

Recently, I was talking with some friends about authors’ voices, how there are some authors whose voices I hear whenever I read something they’ve written. For instance, Robert J. Sawyer has a soft Canadian accent, almost unremarkable, but whenever I read one of his novels, I hear his voice narrating it. On the other hand, Allen Steele has a thick southern accent, but I don’t hear it at all when I read his books.

Isaac’s voice had a very thick, almost harsh Brooklyn accent. It sounded entirely natural as he sat there, every week, for three years. But so completely was it at odds with his written words that I’ve never heard it while reading what he wrote. And in the years after his death, every time I hear it recorded, I am at first shocked because it’s his written words I remember.

The last day Isaac came into the office was three years after I met him. By that time, we’d moved upstairs into a suite of offices. I was at my desk one Tuesday morning when the receptionist called to tell me Isaac was in the lobby and that I ought to come out.

Isaac always just walked back to the office, so that was the first sign something was amiss.

I got to the lobby and saw Isaac sunken into a chair, looking gray and uncomfortable, not breathing easily. I sat with him for a few minutes as he tried to catch his breath. Then Gardner came into the lobby. He, too, knew Isaac was in distress. He handed me some money and said, “Get a cab and take him home.”

We sat there a while longer until Isaac had recovered enough strength to stand up. But he was leaning heavily on my arm as we took the elevator down to the lobby and walked out to the curb. I hailed a cab, and he said, “Thank you.”

I said, “No. I’m taking you home.”

We got in the cab, and he gave the driver the address. Then he stopped talking, but he reached over and grabbed my hand, holding on for the entire ride.

We rode to his apartment in silence, and when we got there, again, he said he was good to go by himself. And again, I said, “No way. I’m going to make sure you get home okay.”

So we walked into his building, past the doorman, and up the elevator.

We stepped out on his floor, and then Janet, his wife, opened the door to their apartment. She said, “Thanks for bringing him home,” as she took him inside and shut the door. I stood there for a few minutes, at a loss. I wanted to do something more, but he was home. Eventually, I went back to the office, told Gardner he was home, and tried to get back to work.

That was the last time any of us in the office saw Isaac. Two months later, he died.

As we learned 10 years later — when Janet revealed it in her collection of his essays called It’s Been a Good Life — he had died of complications from AIDS, which he caught in 1983 when he had a blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery.

He was very weak and hospitalized for the last several weeks of his life. I imagine that must have been the hardest part of dying for him: that he was unable to write right up until the end. Well, that and the fact that he had more to write.

— Ian Randal Strock

Isaac Asimov: Mensa’s Natural Resource

Late in the last century, I was several times a speaker at the Dutch Treat Club, a group of New York writers and artists who met each Tuesday at Sardi’s restaurant. Those convivial gatherings were punctuated with laughter, music, and bright conversation. Each time I visited the Dutch Treaters, I watched Isaac Asimov, with his large, bright eyes; black-framed glasses; trademark silvery sideburns; twinkly smile; and clever wit, presiding over the festivities. Isaac and I would fire puns at each other, and one time he gave me his card. In its entirety it read:

ISAAC ASIMOV NATURAL RESOURCE

From anyone else that would be a statement of vaulting pride and overreaching hubris, but not from Asimov. NATURAL RESOURCE is the natural label for the science fiction colossus who dreamt up the Foundation Trilogy , which he considered to be the most popular and successful of all his creations, and who formulated the three laws of robotics, bestowing upon robots the human touch through the I, Robot stories.

NATURAL RESOURCE is the natural sobriquet for one of the most prolific writers of all time and for the teacher we came to know in his innumerable guides to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, mathematics, genetics, geography, geology, ecology, prehistory to modern history, literature, Shakespeare, the Bible, mythology, Gilbert and Sullivan, the supernatural, and even jokes and limericks, both clean and funny. Making the mundane fascinating and the esoteric crystal clear, he might have been the world’s greatest explainer.

On April 6, 1992, Isaac Asimov shuffled off his mortal coil and journeyed to the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns. He had calculated that the average human being is allotted 2,830,000,000 heartbeats before expiration, and he himself had come very close to that number.

That’s all that was average about Isaac Asimov. He entered the earthly stage on Jan. 2, 1920, in Petrovichi, Russia, and his family came to the United States three years later. Isaac taught himself to read before he was 5, entered college at 15, and began writing professionally at 18. Typing away eight hours a day, seven days a week in his windowless writing room, he published and edited an average of 10 books each year, totaling more than 30 million words! When he wrote full time, he averaged 13 books annually. “I’m my own book-of-the-month club,” he crowed. A few other writers have birthed more books, but those products are almost always confined to a single genre, such as mysteries, westerns, and romances. They don’t come close to the scope and variety of Isaac Asimov’s multifoliate planets, which include nine of the 10 categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification System.

Fellow science fiction authors were in awe of Asimov. Frederik Pohl opined, “I’m sure there were another hundred books in that head.” Robert Heinlein added, “If Isaac doesn’t know the answer, don’t go look it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica , because they won’t know the answer either.”

To the rest of us, it would seem that anyone who fabricated more than 500 books, translated into more than 40 languages, must have reached an age of at least 250. But Isaac Asimov did all that by 72 and with fewer than 3 billion heartbeats. Barbara Walters once asked Asimov what he would do if the doctor told him he had only six months left to live. His reply: “Type faster!”

A life of such scriptomania would seem to require titanic dedication and discipline, but Asimov once confessed in an interview, “It seems to most people that to write my books I have to work, but it’s not work to me. The sensation I have when I write is pleasure. I enjoy writing, and there’s very little else I do enjoy. I have no self-discipline at all. If I had self-discipline, I could make myself turn away from the typewriter now and then, but I’m such a lazy slob I can never manage it.”

In another interview Asimov revealed that he wrote books because he found his more interesting than others on the same subjects. Given his quicksilver mind, unquenchable curiosity, voracious knowledge, flypaper memory, and reader-friendly style, his analysis was spot-on. By the end of his years, his ideas and vision had transformed our culture and collective imagination. What had once been confined within the tight boundaries of pulp magazines, such as Astounding Stories , now permeates how we live and move and have our being. In Isaac Asimov’s words, “We are now living in a science fictional world.”

— Richard Lederer

Ian works both sides of the editorial desk ( IanRandalStrock.com ). He thinks of himself as a science fiction writer, though 98 percent of his published words have been nonfiction (including three books of presidential history). His fiction appears regularly in Analog and Nature as well as anthologies. He’s the owner, publisher, editor, and entire staff of Gray Rabbit Publications/Fantastic Books ( FantasticBooks.biz ). Previously, he had editorial positions with Artemis Magazine , SFScope , Analog , Asimov’s , Science Fiction Chronicle , and Greater New York Mensa. He is the Regional Vice Chairman representing Region 1. Greater New York Mensa | Life Member, Joined 1982

• The Inventory

11 Most Prolific Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors of All Time

When you discover a new favorite author, you want to dive in and read all of his or her works — but sometimes, that means a paltry stack of five or six books. And then there are some authors whose output would take years to read. Here are the 11 most prolific science fiction and fantasy authors of all time.

Top image: The Stars are Ours by Andre Norton.

Note: These include authors who have written over 100 novels, or over about 200 short stories TOTAL. We're not including relatively newer authors whose recent output has been prodigious, such as Charles Stross, Seanan McGuire or Elizabeth Bear. Also, feel free to point out anyone we might have missed in the comments.

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1) lionel fanthorpe.

The Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe , an Anglican vicar, wrote for Badger Books during the 1950s and 60s under many pseudonyms, possibly more than 20 different names in total. Due to the sheer number of books under different names, which were sometimes being used by other authors for Badger Books at the same time, there is no complete bibliography. Collectors estimate that Fanthrope wrote over 180 books, 89 which were written during a 3 year period. On average he completed a book every 12 days. To quote from the Fanthorpe fan page:

Badger Books would send Fanthorpe a cover painting, often the more lurid the better (see the Cover Gallery for examples). He would be asked to write a back-cover blurb and suggest several titles for the book to go along with the art. After a title was settled on, he would start writing the novel. A humorous example is The Last Valkyrie . For those of you who don't know, a Valkyrie is a mythological Norse figure who took valiant warriors from the battlefield straight to Valhalla where they would feast and fight forever in paradise. The Last Valkyrie is set mainly in ancient Greece. It concerns Daedelus, his son Icarus and King Minos. Near the end of the book one chapter is devoted to explaining the whole of Norse mythology. It has the feel of a last minute realization of "We need to fill another 20 pages! Oh, and I should bring Valkyries into this somewhere."

Neil Gaiman is frequently quoted as having said, "Do not read too much Lionel Fanthorpe at one go, your brains will turn to guacamole and drip out of your ears."

2) Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey began publishing in 1987 with her book Arrows of the Queen . Since then she has published 142 books , an average of 5.5 books/year. Some 30 of those books are in in the Valdemar Saga, her best known works. Lackey is still publishing books, with at least two books scheduled to be published in 2014. She has collaborated on eight books, with co-authors including Eric Flint, Dave Freer, James Mallory, Rosemary Edghill, and others.

3) Piers Anthony

Piers Anthony is a renowned science fiction/fantasy author who believes that one of his greatest achievements is having published a book for every letter of the alphabet. He is best known for the the Xanth series. Between 1967-2013, he wrote over 100 books, averaging almost three books a year, and he's still writing and publishing today. The 37th Xanth novel, Esrever Doom , will be out later this month.

4) Walter Gibson

Walter B. Gibson , under the name Maxwell Grant, is credited with writing the pulp adventures of The Shadow during the 1930s and 40s. He wrote 282 of the 325 Shadow novels, often writing up to 10,000 words a day. He wrote on average 24 novels a year — because his contract stated that if he could write more than 24 novels in a year, the publisher would give him more assignments to fill his "slack time." Gibson also wrote for the Biff Brewster series. In addition to his fiction work he was a practicing magician and wrote many books on magic and the occult. He was once featured in an advertisement for Corona typewriters (at left) that claimed he wrote an astounding 1,440,000 words in less than 10 months.

5) Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove, best known for his alternate history novels, has written 120 books and is still writing. In the 34 years he has been publishing, Turtledove has averaged 3.5 books/year. He has written under some pseudonyms, including Eric G. Iverson and Mark Gordian, and he has also collaborated with authors such as Richard Dreyfuss, Judith Tarr, S.M. Stirling and Kevin Sandes.

6) Andre Norton

Andre Norton was a prolific fantasy author, best known for the Witch World series. She was the author or co-author of over 250 novels, including 52 books with collaborators. Between her first publication in 1934 and her death in 2005 she published an average of 3.5 novels a year.

7) Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was one of the most successful and influential science fiction writers of all time. He wrote so many books, short stories, and essays that it’s difficult to find an accurate count . Even Asimov himself didn’t believe he had a complete bibliography of his work. By most accounts, he published well over 500 books in 9 of the 10 Dewey Decimal categories. By the end of his life he had published well over 400 pieces of short fiction, including the Foundation series and the Robot series.

8) Brian Aldiss

Brian Aldiss is one of the most influential and prolific British science fiction writers. In addition to being the first president of the British Science Fiction Association, he has written dozens of books and hundreds of short stories. Between 1942 and the present he wrote 65 novels, almost one book every year — but his most impressive output comes from short fiction: he wrote over 370 short stories between 1954 and 2011, about seven stories a year.

9) Wolfgang Hohlbein

This German author has published over 200 novels, and is still writing — but very few of his books have been translated into English. He's the co-author of the Enwor series, about Skar, a member of a traveling martial arts clan called the Sakai. Some of his books also involve retellings of Germanic folklore — and he's also written a number of Indiana Jones novels that were never translated into English.

10) Ray Bradbury

Best known for Fahrenheit 451 , Ray Bradbury was actually most prolific with short fiction. Many of his novels were actually pieced together collections of previously published short stories. He also wrote plays, television scripts, essays, poems and short stories. In total he published over 600 short stories in his 72 year career, averaging eight stories per year.

11) R. A. Salvatore

Even R.A. Salvatore himself can’t keep track of how many books he’s written. When asked how many Dark Elf books he’s published he guesses 23 — admitting that he might have forgotten a few. He is best known for the Forgotten Realms novels. Since he published his first novel, The Crystal Shard, in 1988, Salvatore has written well over 100 books. On average he publishes four books per year. He is still publishing today with at least one book scheduled to come out in 2014.

Also noteworthy:

Marion Zimmer Bradley, with dozens of novels including the Darkover series, Michael Moorcock, with 70 novels and 150 short stories, Tanith Lee, with 79 books and 100 short stories, Stephen King, with 94 novels and 185 short stories; C.J. Cherryh, with 70 novels and 83 short stories and novelettes; Arthur C. Clarke with 21 novels and 12 co-authored books — but over 100 books total in various categories; Anne McCaffrey with 52 novels, 28 co-authored novels, and 66 short stories; Philip K. Dick with 44 novels and 121 short stories; and Terry Pratchett with some 55 novels, including 40 Discworld books.

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29 of the Best Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read

Looking for your next sci-fi must-read? Cyberpunk, space operas, dystopias – we've pulled together some of the WIRED team's favourite science fiction novels. Some are eerily plausible, others are wild trips of the imagination, but all present compelling visions of our possible future. Listed here in chronological order for completists.

You may also enjoy our guides to best sci-fi movies and the best space movies , too. If you're after more reading inspiration, try our selection of the best fantasy books and we have a guide to the best audiobooks if you're feeling lazy.

It's Prime Day 2023, so we've uncovered the top discounts. Check out the best Prime Day deals in the UK here.​​

The Blazing World, by Margaret Cavendish (1666)

This book is arguably the first science fiction book ever written. The Blazing World's language may be dated, but this fearless feminist text from Margaret Cavendish is packed full of imagination is not just incredibly brave for its time. It's also still incredibly relevant; cited as inspiration by writers including China Miéville and Alan Moore.

Cavendish's utopian tale follows the adventures of a kidnapped woman, who travels to another world run by part-humans, part animals - fox men, fish men, geese men, the list goes on. As she is a very beautiful woman, she becomes their Empress, and organises an an almighty invasion of her own world, complete with literal fire(stones) raining from the sky.

Price: £10 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (1818)

Mary Shelley started writing classic gothic thriller Frankenstein when she was 18 years old. Two centuries later, it is a major ancestor of both the science fiction and horror genres, tackling huge themes like the nature of life and death, immortality and genetic engineering. It is a pro-science novel that at its heart shows Dr Frankenstein as the callous fiend of the story, who created a being and was not willing to accept responsibility for his actions. In an age where the space between technical life and death is narrower than ever, and scientists are playing with the makeup of what makes us humans, Frankenstein can still teach an important lesson: just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Price: £6 | Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Audible trial

Foundation, by Isaac Asimov (1951)

Asimov was a prolific writer, but many of his best works are classic short stories such as Nightfall , or The Last Question , which play out like long jokes with a punchline twist at the end. In the Foundation series, he’s in another mode entirely, charting the rise and fall of empires in sweeping brush strokes. Asimov’s prose can be stilted, and betrays the attitudes of its time in the portrayal of female characters, but it has left a lasting legacy.

By Carlton Reid

By Emily Mullin

By Andy Greenberg

By Scott Gilbertson

The Foundation series follows Hari Seldon, who is the architect of psychohistory – a branch of mathematics that can make accurate predictions thousands of years in advance, and which Seldon believes is necessary to save the human race from the dark ages. You can see why it’s one of Elon Musk’s favourite books (along with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , and The Moon is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein – also recommended). A long-awaited screen adaptation is one of the flagship shows of Apple TV+.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester (1957)

This landmark novel begins with a simple proposition – what if humans could teleport? – and sprawls into a tale of rebirth and vengeance that winds across the Solar System: The Count of Monte Cristo for the interstellar age. First published as Tiger! Tiger! in the UK, named after the William Blake poem, it follows Gully Foyle – a violent, uneducated brute who spends six months marooned in deep space, and the rest of the book seeking retribution for it.

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Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem (1961)

If you think you know Solaris from the 2002 Steven Soderbergh film, the original book may come as a bit of a surprise. Written by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem in 1961, this short novel is heavier on philosophy than plot. It follows a team of humans on a space station who are trying to understand the mysterious living ocean on the planet Solaris, with little success – their research is limited to lengthy descriptions that paint a vibrant picture of the alien planet but fail to elucidate how it works. As they poke and prod, Solaris ends up exposing more about them than it does about itself, with the book demonstrating the futility of humans trying to comprehend something not of their world.

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Dune, by Frank Herbert (1965)

In 2012, WIRED US readers voted Dune the best science-fiction novel of all time. It’s also the best-selling of all time, and has inspired a mammoth universe, including 18 books set over 34,000 years and a terrible 1984 movie adaptation by David Lynch, his worst film by far. A very different effort was released in 2021, directed by Denis Villeneuve. The series is set 20,000 years in the future in galaxies stuck in the feudal ages, where computers are banned for religious reasons and noble families rule whole planets. We focus on the planet Arrakis, which holds a material used as a currency throughout the Universe for its rarity and mind-enhancing powers. Lots of giant sandworms, too.

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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein (1966)

One of Elon Musk's favourite books, apparently, this gripping novel paints a plausible picture of life on Earth's satellite, three years before man set foot on the moon for the first time. Its depictions of the challenges of life in orbit, and the ingenuity of human solutions to the problem – even among the exiles and misfits who make up the lunar population – are memorable.

Ice, by Anna Kavan (1967)

Anna Kavan's last (and best) sci fi novel provides a haunting, claustrophobic vision of the end of the world, where an unstoppable monolithic ice shelf is slowly engulfing the earth and killing everything in its wake. The male protagonist and narrator of the story (who is nameless) is eternally chasing after an elusive and ethereal young woman, while contemplating feelings that become darker and more violent towards her as the ice closes in. He frequently crosses paths with the Warden, the sometimes-husband but also captor of the young woman, who is always one step ahead. And as the ice closes off almost all paths by land and sea, he is running out of time to catch them up.

The novel reads like a grown-up, nightmarish version of Alice in Wonderland : Kavan takes you on a journey that is hallucinogenic and unsettling, with no regard to whether the narrator is dreaming or awake. But the true genius of the book is its language - depicting a powerful allegory crushing pain of addiction, loneliness and mental illness will do little to cheer you up, but will capture your attention.

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The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)

Le Guin alternated between genres during her prolific career, and this intricate novel came out the year after the classic fantasy book A Wizard of Earthsea . The bulk of the action takes place on Winter, a remote Earth-like planet where it’s cold all year round, and everyone is the same gender. It was one of the first novels to touch on ideas of androgyny – which is viewed from the lens of protagonist Genly Ai, a visitor from Earth who struggles to understand this alien culture.

A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K Dick (1977)

A curious novel that reads less like sci-fi and more like a hallucinated autobiography detailing the author’s struggle with drug addiction. In a near-future California, vice cop Bob Arctor lives undercover with a community of drug addicts hooked on devastating psychoactive dope Substance D. Arctor, who needs to don a special “scramble suit” to hide his face and voice when meeting his fellow cops, has to grapple with gradually losing his sense of self.

Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler (1979)

Though Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred was published more than 40 years ago, it carries lessons and learnings that we can all still use today. When African-American writer, Dana finds herself transported from 1979 Los Angeles to the pre-Civil War Antebellum south to repeatedly save her white slave-owning ancestor, she must confront the horrendous reality of surviving slavery while not losing her modern day identity. This is only more complicated when she accidentally transports back with her white husband.

The novel explores major themes of power, race and inequality. Butler’s contextualising of this era is devastating; the way in which she contrasts modern day 1979 with the pre-Civil War age offers a different perspective on the complicated and degrading reality of slavery. Kindred allows you, the reader, to engage with the emotional impacts of slavery, something unfortunately often lost in too many of today’s teachings of the subject.

Neuromancer, by William Gibson (1984)

The definitive cyberpunk novel, William Gibson’s Neuromancer follows hacker-turned-junkie Henry Case as he tries to pull off one last, rather dodgy sounding job in the hope of reversing a toxin that prevents him from accessing cyberspace. Set in a dystopian Japanese underworld, the novel touches on all manner of futuristic technology, from AI to cryonics, and features a cast of creative characters that will stick with you long after you turn the last page.

Consider Phlebas, by Iain Banks (1987)

Back in 1987, after four acclaimed fiction novels, Iain Banks published his first sci-fi book, Consider Phlebas , a true space opera and his first book of many to feature the Culture, an interstellar utopian society of humanoids, aliens and sentient machines ostensibly run by hyper-intelligent AI "Minds". A war rages across the galaxy with one side fighting for faith, the other a moral right to exist. Banks melds this conflict with something approaching a traditional fantasy quest: the search for a rogue Mind that has hidden itself on a forbidden world in an attempt to evade destruction.

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (1989)

Winner of the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Novel and part of a two-book series, Hyperion is a richly woven sci-fi epic told in the style of The Canterbury Tales . In the world of Hyperion , humanity has spread to thousands of worlds, none more intriguing or dangerous as Hyperion. It's home to the Time Tombs, ageless structures which are mysteriously travelling backward through time, and guarding them is the terrifying creature known as the Shrike. It kills anyone who dares encroach on the Time Tombs and has inspired a fanatical religious group who control pilgrimages to the tombs. On the eve of an invasion, a group of travellers convene what's likely to be the last Shrike pilgrimage and share their tales of what brought them there.

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (1990)

Before it mutated into the mega media franchise “Jurassic World”, Jurassic Park was a smart, thoughtful and gripping sci-fi classic written by Michael Crichton, author of the equally brilliant Andromeda Strain. Crichton's tale remains a great parable about the dangers of genetic engineering, (as well as a slightly heady exploration of chaos theory). His descriptions of dinosaurs are also brilliant, like the T-Rex: "Tim felt a chill, but then, as he looked down the animal's body, moving down from the massive head and jaws, he saw the smaller, muscular forelimb. It waved in the air and then it gripped the fence."

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson (1992)

Frantic, fun and almost suspiciously prescient, Snow Crash grabs you from its opening sequence – a high-speed race through an anarchic Los Angeles that has been carved up into corporate-owned ‘burbclaves’ – and barely lets up. The book follows main character Hiro Protagonist (yes, really), an elite hacker and swordsman, as he tries to stop the spread of a dangerous virus being propagated by a religious cult. It combines neurolinguistics, ancient mythology and computer science, and eerily predicts social networks, cryptocurrency and Google Earth.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wondery | Audible trial

Vurt, by Jeff Noon (1993)

“Vurt is a feather - a drug, a dimension, a dream state, a virtual reality.” That’s what the back of this 1993 cyberpunk novel reads, and it’s a perfect way into the chaotic and surreal world of Vurt . Set in a gritty future Manchester, Vurt follows the story of Scribble, who’s on a mission to find his sister Desdemona who he believes is trapped inside a feather called Curious Yellow. That’s right, a feather. Vurt is about virtual reality, but not the strapping on a headset kind. Instead, people put feathers into their mouths to visit different dimensions and states of consciousness. Written in a frantic, dark and funny way that makes the action feel like it’s bouncing along beside you, Vurt won the Arthur C. Clarke award in 1994 and has since become a cult classic – although it’s not always easy to find a copy.

Price: £17 | Amazon | Audible trial

Under The Skin, by Michel Faber (2000)

Set in Scotland, Under The Skin is about an alien who’s sent to Earth to drug hitchhikers that she then delivers to her home planet. Despite being here to lead people to their deaths, she’s contemplative about Earth and nature. We’re used to considering what an alien visiting Earth for the first time might think about certain things, but the way Faber writes about Isserley’s experiences feels fresh, strange and, at times, oddly beautiful.

At times, Under The Skin is profoundly unnerving and difficult to read. But it’s not gratuitous. Elements of the novel are meant to be satirical, touching on present-day themes of our treatment of each other, animals and the Earth. We also highly recommend Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 movie adaptation, which is loosely based on the book but is a brilliant and intensely dark movie full of haunting imagery and a breath-taking score.

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Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky (2002)

It’s 2033, and a nuclear apocalypse has forced the rag-tag remains of the human population of Moscow to flee to the underground maze of tunnels below the city. Here they develop independent tribes in each metro station, trade goods and fight against each other. But hidden in the tunnels between the stations hide terrifying flesh-eating mutants and a voice that is driving people mad… This is the premise of Dmitry Glukhovsky’s wildly successful novel, which was later made into a series of video games. Part epic tale, part thriller, the translated story follows a teenager called Artyom, who has to travel to the heart of the Metro through unpredictable dangers to save the remains of humankind. Expect to be shocked.

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Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood (2003)

While The Handmaid’s Tale describes a world that seems more plausible by the day, in Oryx and Crake Atwood spins a genetically-modified circus of current trends taken to their absolute extreme – a “bio-engineered apocalypse,” is how one reviewer put it. A number of television adaptations have been mooted, including a now-defunct HBO project with Darren Aronofsky, but this might be one to place alongside The Stars My Destination in the impossible-to-adapt file. The world of the book is vibrant, surreal and disturbing enough.

Read more: The best sci-fi movies everyone should watch once

The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin (2008)

Liu Cixin was already one of China’s most revered science fiction writers when, in 2008, he decided to turn his hand to a full-length novel. The Three-Body Problem is the result – an era-spanning novel that jumps between the Cultural Revolution, the present day, and a mysterious video game. The first part of a trilogy, it’s a fascinating departure from the tropes of Western science fiction, and loaded with enough actual science that you might learn something as well as being entertained.

Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)

Children of Time is an epic book about a dying Earth. People are leaving, and there’s a plan to keep some of them safe and the human race flourishing elsewhere. However, things don’t quite pan out how they should. This is a saga of a story spanning many, many generations. That’s a tricky thing to pull off and ensure readers still follow with care and attention. But Adrian Tchaikovsky infuses interest, humanity and authenticity into every character and storyline so well. You’ll find yourself rooting for every new character that comes next – even when they’re only distantly related to the one you met a few chapters ago. The book deals with small interactions and feuds through to huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more. It’s no surprise it won the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award. There’s a follow-up called Children of Ruin and (fingers crossed) a possible movie adaptation in the works.

The Martian, by Andy Weir (2015)

Andy Weir's debut novel literally puts the science into science fiction, packing in tonnes of well-researched detail about life on Mars. There's descriptions of how to fertilise potatoes with your own excrement, and hack a life-support system for a Martian rover – in levels of detail that the movie adaptation starring Matt Damon came nowhere near to reaching. The sassy, pop-culture laden writing style won't be to everyone's taste – this book probably won't get taught in English Literature lessons – but the first-person perspective makes sense for this story of an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet with no way to get home.

Price: £7.50 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood (2015)

An odd cocktail of a novel: part techno dystopia, part satire, part sex comedy, part classic Atwood. In a bleak, postlapsarian version of the US, young lovebirds Charmaine and Stan endure a miserable existence sleeping in their car and dodging criminals’ knives. Salvation arrives under the guise of an offer to move to the Positron Project – a gated community modelled after an American 1950s suburb. The rub? All Positron’s couples must spend every other month working in a prison, temporarily swapping homes with another couple, called “alternates”. When both Charmaine and Stan start developing oddball sexual relations with their alternates, things move rapidly south.

The Power, by Naomi Alderman (2016)

Margaret Atwood also had a hand in this gripping novel, which inverts the premise of The Handmaid’s Tale , and puts women in the ascendancy. Atwood mentored the author, Naomi Alderman, as she wrote this inventive thriller about women and girls discovering a powerful new ability to emit electricity from their hands, up-ending civilisation in different ways across the world. The Power is paced like a television series, and it is, in fact, coming to screens soon via Amazon Studios.

Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer (2017)

The Annihilation series showcased Jeff VanderMeer's gift for the surreal, and he turns it up a notch in Borne – which starts with an unknown scavenger plucking an object from the fur of a giant flying bear in a post-apocalyptic city, and only gets weirder from there as the main character strikes up a friendship with an intelligent sea anemone-like creature called Borne. The story is, it eventually transpires, one of biotechnology run amok – which makes for the most colourful dystopia you're likely to come across.

Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures, by Mike Ashley (2018)

Moonrise , from the British Library's Science Fiction Classics series, could just have easily appeared in the 1950s or even the 1900s in this list. It's a brilliantly curated anthology of twelve SF short stories about the moon – getting to it, exploring it, contemplating it – with lunar-inclined fiction from H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke present and correct but also the likes of Judith Merril's 1954 Dead Centre , which distills all the potential tragedies of space programs into just a handful of haunting images. From author and science fiction historian Mike Ashley.

Exhalation, by Ted Chiang (2019)

Exhalation is a book of short stories rather than a novel, but hear us out. Ted Chiang is a fantastic science-fiction writer who weaves real science and theory into his tales. This makes them feel somehow part of this world despite dealing with a range of classic sci-fi themes, including parallel realities, robot pets and time travel.

From a circular time travelling portal in ancient Baghdad to a device that allows you to meet your parallel self that you can trade-in at a local store in the present day, it’s glorious science-fiction filled with wonder and mystery. There are stories and ideas nestled in Exhalation’s pages that stick with you long after you’ve finished reading. Chiang has breathed life into the science-fiction genre, creating stories that feel refreshing and human rather than concerning distant worlds and ideas that can lead to a disconnect. This is evident in his short story Story of Your Life , the source material for Denis Villeneuve's Arrival .

The Resisters, by Gish Jen (2020)

A speculative dystopia set in an 'Auto America', Gish Jen's The Resisters , which was published in early 2020, puts the sport of baseball – of all the things – at the centre of her world, which is divided into people who still get to have jobs, the Netted, as in 'Aunt Nettie', as in the internet, and the rest: the Surplus. The story centres on Gwen, who comes from a Surplus family but who has the chance to rise in status when her baseball skills get attention, with Jen taking on surveillance culture and the value of work and leisure.

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK

Angela Watercutter

Jennifer M. Wood

Madeline Ashby

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy

21 of the Most Prolific Authors of All Time

If you had to choose between quality versus quantity, which would you choose? What if we told you that you could have both!

At least, that is the case for those in the literature world. Over the years, authors of all genres put their creative minds to the test by seeing how many books they could write. Before computers, these prolific authors managed to publish as many as over 500 novels, novellas, short stories, and indeed any piece of writing!

Keep reading to see what authors have written the most books in history.

1. Stephen King

“I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.” – Stephen King

It is no surprise to see Stephen King as one of the most published authors. He once said that he writes 2,000 words a day, which accounts for how quickly you see his books on shelves (and on the big screen). Records say that King has published 60 full-length works and over 200 short stories.

King also has essays, screenplays, and comics. You have to wonder how one author could write something as horrific as Carrie and then create a heart-warming story like The Green Mile . King is definitely a writer of all trades. 

2. Isaac Asimov 

“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.” Isaac Asimov

Science-fiction enthusiasts all know who Isaac Asimov is. A legend of the genre, Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books and hundreds of short stories. He wrote a few series of publications, including the Foundation Series, Galactic Empire , and Robot Series . 

Most of Asimov’s books explain the history of science in great detail. These books came with reference guides to explain the terminology in his books. Books about books, who knew!

3. Kathleen Mary Lindsay

“The logic behind the magic is that we create what we are imagining.” – Mary Faulkner, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Women’s Spirituality

Kathleen Mary Lindsay held the world record for most published books for many years. Lindsay wrote under 11 pseudonyms: Mary Faulkner, Margaret Cameron, Mary Richmond, Molly Waring, Betty Manvers, Elizabeth Fenton, Nigel Mackenzie, and Hugh Desmond. The Guinness Book of World Records reports that Faulkner has a total of 904 books. 

4. Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski  

“I’m not a writer nor an artist. Although I write a lot and I love all the beauty – I am a man of my age, a child of my nation.” – Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski

Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski, also known as Kleofas Fakund Pasternak, published his first book in 1830. That book was one of many in Kraszewski’s collection. The author, activist, and historian published 600 books in his lifetime. He is most well-known for his work on historical Poland. There are 29 novels in the series in 79 parts.

5. Ursula Bloom 

“Ann was thirty-five. What was worse, she looked thirty-five.” – Ursula Bloom, Wonder Cruise

Ursula Bloom was a British romance novelist who wrote over 500 books. She, like many others on this list, wrote under pseudonyms. Bloom said Charles Dickens influenced her to become an author. She was an avid reader as a kid and read all of his works before she was ten. In the 1920s and 30s, it wasn’t common to have a female journalist, but Bloom fought back and wrote for various newspapers and magazines.

6. Charles Hamilton

“Yarooh!” – Frank Richards, Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School

The Billy Bunter series is the humorous children’s fiction novel written by Charles Hamilton’s pseudonym, Frank Richards. The stories were initially published in a boy’s weekly story paper. Before his passing at the age of 85, he wrote about 100 million words making him one of the most prolific authors in history.

His stories were easy for kids to read, and all had a moral message; don’t smoke or gamble, be honest, and respect other races. The BBC eventually made a TV show based on the series which Hamilton wrote the scripts for.

7. Barbara Cartland

“I’ll keep going till my face falls off.” – Barbara Cartland

Well, Barbara, it turns out you kept writing even after that! Barbara Cartland was one of the most published authors and continued publishing after her death in 2000. Cartland holds the Guinness Book of World records for the most written novels in one year. She wrote roughly 23 novels each year and had a total of 723 published pieces. After she passed, they found manuscripts of a book and released it as the Barbara Cartland Pink Collection .

8. Ryoki Inoue

“Abandon inertia.” – Ryoki Inoue

Brazilian author Ryoki Inoue holds the Guinness World Record for being the most prolific author, with 1,075 books published under many pseudonyms. 

Inoue would write all day and all night until he finished a book. He wrote Sequesreo Fast Food in one night. According to Ryoki.com , “In his opinion, the secret of the creative process is in 98% of sweat, 1% of talent, and 1% of luck. Moreover, discipline and application are the motive that make him to be sit in front of his computer and don’t leave until the end of his new job.”

If you ever need the motivation to finish a book or project, think about Inoue’s philosophy.

9. R.L. Stine

R.L Stine was once asked in a Goodreads forum , “On a scale of one to ten, how much do you enjoy traumatizing young children?”

R.L. Stine cooly replied, “I enjoy getting children to read. Traumatizing them is just a bonus.”

The infamous author of the Goosebumps series and Fear Street series , Stine has 157 books posted on his website . At one point, it was said that Stine wrote one book every two weeks. Stine is still at it and has a writing program for aspiring young authors. Visit his website for more information. 

10. Corín Tellado

“Some months, the censors rejected four novels. I told things clearly. Censorship taught me to imply things.” – Corín Tellado

Romance author Corín Tellado from Spain held the world record for having sold the most books written in Spanish. Tellado published over 5,000 titles selling more than 400 million books. 

Tellado stood out amongst all other romance novelists because she didn’t fall into the trap of happy endings with all of her books. In the 70s, her novels raised a few eyebrows as they tackled tough subjects amid the women’s rights movement.

11. Jane Austin

“Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.”

Jane Austen is one of the most well-known English writers ever. She is regarded by many as being second only to Shakespeare in her crafty use of language. What makes her story even more incredible is that she was at a disadvantage against all the other authors, because she was born a woman. Yet, she overcame adversity and cultural shackles to become the most iconic novelist that the English ever produced.

12. Enid Mary Blyton

“The best way to treat obstacles is to use them as stepping-stones.”

Enid Mary Blyton is credited with writing over 800 different books for children. One report claims that she has a higher number of cumulative book sales than even J.K. Rowling herself. Although this might have changed even as you are reading this sentence, because Rowling has continued writing. 

Unfortunately, Blyton died in 1986, at the age of 71, but her stories remain forever popular with children, going so far as being translated into over 90 languages.

13. Jacob Neusner

“Do not let people put you down. Believe in yourself and stand for yourself and trust yourself.”

Jacob Neusner has some of the most neglected works that made rounds across the world. His books were centered on practicing Judaism during the Mishnaic and Talmudic eras. He has over 950 books to his name, which he was involved in either directly writing them or editing the drafts. Most of his books are around 400 pages, which displays the sheer magnitude of research that must have gone into writing them. 

Writing completely non-fiction takes up a lot more time because of the research required. Thus, the amount of time Jacob spent writing his books was most likely far longer than that of any of his fiction writing peers.

14. John Creasey

“Never buy an editor or publisher a lunch or a drink until he has bought an article, story or book from you. This rule is absolute and may be broken only at your peril.”

John Creasey is one of the most interesting mysteries revolving around great writers. Legend has it that he was rejected 768 times before he got his first approval from a publishing firm for his book. He then went on to write more than 600 books. However, he did so using 28 different pseudonyms. Hence, there’s some conflict over the exact number that can be credited to him. He’s majorly focused on Westerns but was an avid romance writer and produced several novels using the pseudonym “Margaret Cooke.”

15. Georges Joseph Christian Simenon

“Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don’t think an artist can ever be happy.”

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon is a writer of over 200 novels written using his name and has more than 300 books written under at least 12 different pseudonyms. Simenon’s niche was detective novels, and his unique talent was in the psychological aspects of the novels themselves. His best-known work is Inspector Maigret. His writing had more intuition than deductive reasoning in solving crimes, something which greatly resonated with the audience.

16. Alexandre Dumas

“All human wisdom is contained in these two words – Wait and Hope”

Alexandre Dumas wrote 277 books. Dumas had reportedly told Napoleon the Third that he had written over 1,200 volumes. What sets him apart is that he is more openly known to be associated with various collaborators. This makes it very challenging to give an actual number containing the exact number of works Dumas was involved with. 

However, in the old days, authors often took multi-volume novels to be individual books in themselves, instead of the continuity of one book. Therefore, Dumas’ The Three Musketeers , although technically one book now, had been counted as separate volumes back in his day.

17. Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Charles Dickens was undoubtedly an extraordinary writer. His major acclaim to fame was his works as an incredible novelist. He produced many classics during his day, for instance, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, and many more. Unarguably, all of the novels that he wrote can be very easily considered to be English classics. 

18. Jules Verne

“Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.”

A French poet, a novelist, and a playwright; Verne rightfully earns his place on this list. His novels add a futuristic adventurous overtone to them, which is greatly appreciated by his audience. Being called the “father of science fiction,” Verne has played an insurmountable role in the development of the infrastructure for science fiction writing. 

One of the most interesting parts about his novels is their ability to predict the technology of the future. Several things described in Verne’s novels have now become a reality, long after his sad demise.

19. Lewis Caroll

“If you don’t know where you are going any road can take you there.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an English classic that is widely popular throughout the world; it has been adapted into many plays and even several blockbuster films. Lewis Carroll, was the genius behind this wonderful story. 

In his day, he was far more than just a novelist; an English academic, Caroll was both a mathematician, and an Anglican deacon on the side. 

As if Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland wasn’t enough, Caroll went on to write the hit sequel Through the Looking-Glass . The most notable aspects of his work were his genius wordplay, apparently nonsensical logic, and the fantastical imagination. He quite literally invented the entire genre of literary nonsense.

20. Emily Dickinson 

“That it will never come again is what makes life sweet.”

Emily Dickinson never received the fame she deserved during her lifetime. However, now she is recognized by notable poets and literarians throughout the world as one of the most influential representatives of the American culture. 

Her voice, which reverberated through her poetry, has been a source of inspiration for many other authors, most notably, the Brontes. In 1994, she was enlisted among the 26 pivotal writers of the Western civilization by literary critic Harold Bloom. Tragically, it was only after her death that her sister found the literary equivalent of Atlantis in the form of some two thousand poems Emily had composed.

21. Rabindranath Tagore

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

Was the first ever non-European lyricist who won the Nobel Prize in literature. A Bengali polymath, Tagore was a writer, composer, poet, social reformer, playwright, philosopher, and even a painter.

He is largely credited for outrightly reshaping Bengali literature. Through music and art, Tagore brought Contextual Modernism to India during the late 19th century. 

He wrote novels, short stories, poems, drama, essays, and songs, all in Bengali. He later translated them into English himself.

To make an idea of how prolific his artistic life was, know that he wrote approximately 2,232 songs and over 50 volumes of poetry, not to mention the plethora of drama plays. 

Wrapping up…

WOW! That’s a lot of books to add to your 2022 reading goal. Don’t think you can do it? Well, you can with the skill of speed reading. Learning to speed read can increase your productivity skills too. Enjoy all these books, all while becoming a more productive professional. Check out all of our courses to learn more.

Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments!

Thomas Brezina around 600 books, translated into 35 languages, 70 million sold copies

Kenneth Quarrington

Where is Edgar wallace

Don’t forget Ellen G White who wrote more than 100,000 pages during her lifetime

Daniel Johansen

Jane Austen second only to Shakespeare? Lol, absolutely hilarious. Nobody, and I mean nobody, thinks that.

Creasey wrote mainly on crime, not westerns. I think you’re confusing him with JT Edson

I’m so excited to read this one. It’s wonderful!!

Daisaku Ikeda, the Japanese philosopher and educator (still alive today) has written over 350 books and many thousands of articles, essays, speeches, lectures, and poems. He was named poet laureate of the World Academy of Arts and Culture as far back as 1981.

Peter Bohan

Joyce Carol Oates – in the Nobel Prize talk for 40 years – is well over 100 books including 60 novels. Where to start? Her Journal.

Yes! I love her writing! (And happen to live walking distance from the place she grew up, same town, same road)

I flatter myself because I think that since I read and appreciate a somewhat broad range of nonfiction it should follow that , of course, I could write something of value too! Like I said, I flatter myself. These delusions persist in the field of music also. Oh well, thank God for authors, musicians and polymaths! In Proverbs, (one of His 66 books) He had a few cogent observations.

12/5/2022 Not to toot my own horn (but if I don’t, who will? lol), I have published more than 550 books, mostly for young people and for libraries and schools. Among my publishers have been Scholastic, Chelsea House, Lucent Books, Capstone, the Smithsonian, Red Line, Morgan Reynolds, and others. Plug my name into Amazon’s book section to see a list of my books. Thanks. Don Nardo

You missed Walter B. Gibson, who wrote 280+ Shadow novels (two a month for years), and about 100 other books.

Richard Helms

Need to add Robert J. Randisi to this list. He wrote 27 novels in 1984 alone, has over 500 published Western titles, and over 150 private eye novels. His nickname is “The Last of the Pulp Authors”. He has had at least one book published every month since 1982. Earned the Lifetime Achievement Award for both the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Western Fictioneers. He has over 650 books in print.

Jane Yolen is way past 400 published books, for children, YA, and adults, and poetry.

Erin hunter had a lot of books to if she’s not compared to these authors. (I had to count all 152 of them)

The Shi’a scholar Seyyed Muhammad Shirazi wrote more than a thousand books.

Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba was the most prolific writer of all time.

As much as I despise his Scientology/Dianetics work, L. Ron Hubbard was the record holder for years. He has over one thousand books published. I don’t understand why authors with 500 books are listed but he isn’t. This list isn’t very complete or comprehensive.

Kamala P Das

Rabindranath Tagore

Alek Sander

Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 with his book Gitanjali, Song Offerings.

Enid Blyton with about 800? books. Prolific writer she was.

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7 of History’s Most Prolific Authors

By michele debczak | jul 16, 2022.

If you need motivation to finish that novel you've been working on, look to the most prolific authors of all time. They've published thousands of titles between them, from obscure works to best-sellers. To see just how many publications it takes to rank among literature's most productive writers, check out the list below.

Compiling a comprehensive list of history's most prolific authors can be tricky. What counts as a published, book-length work is debatable, especially when you look at older writers who serialized their work. Additionally, many big-name authors use ghost writers to churn out multiple titles a year. Rankings of the authors with the most published books vary, but these names are often part of the conversation.

According to Guinness World Records , L. Ron Hubbard is the most prolific writer of all time. In addition to founding the controversial religion Scientology, the sci-fi author published 1084 works between 1934 and 2006. Of those works, more than 250 were fiction.

He may hold the official record, but Hubbard has published less than other authors depending on the criteria you use. The Spanish romance writer Corín Tellado released over 4000 works over her career, according to Barnes & Noble . This number helped make her one of history's best-selling authors as well as one of the most prolific, with any where from 600 million to a billion book sales to her name. Barbara Cartland and R. L. Stine also became best-selling authors with help from their robust outputs.

Some authors have no problem writing multiple books a year, while other authors are defined by their writer's block. After reading the roundup below, check out these book series that the original authors haven't finished.

• Corín Tellado: ~4000 published works
• L. Ron Hubbard: ~1084 published works
• Ryoki Inoue: ~1075 published works
• Enid Mary Blyton: ~800 published works
• Barbara Cartland: ~723 published works
• Isaac Asimov: ~500 published works
• R.L. Stine: ~450 published works

The 10 Most Prolific Authors Ever

Who are, or were, the most prolific authors in the history of novel writing? The answer will surprise you – not necessarily because of who they were, but because of how many novels they wrote.

These prolific authors are not all among the most famous writers, although some are. If you are an Agatha Christie or a Stephen King fan, you may have binged on their novels and gasped at how many pleasant hours you have spent reading them – both close to a hundred. Stephen King, already at about 85 and still writing should make his century. Agatha Christie managed about 80, and that is now final. But there are writers who have written many more novels than they have.

The question is, how is it possible that one person could write several hundred novels in one lifetime? And what drives them? We could never know the answer to the second question but the answer to the first is, whatever it is that drives them, their books are evidence that it is, indeed, possible, although you and I would not be able to do it.

Here are the ten most prolific writers in descending order of the number of books they wrote:

Corin Tellado, 1927- 2009

Around 4,000 romantic novels.

Spanish writer Maria del Socorro Tellado Lopez, 1927- 2009,  writing under the name Corin Tellado published more than four thousand romantic novels, most of them best-sellers in the Spanish speaking world. She sold more than 400 million copies .

Charles Hamilton, 1876-1961

The equivalent of 1,200 novels.

The second most prolific fiction writer is Charles Hamilton, 1876-1961. It is basically impossible to count his books but he is known to have written more than 100 million words, which is the equivalent of 1,200 full length novels He also wrote about 5000 short stories.

Not heard of Charles Hamilton? He wrote several series of books, mainly set in public schools, and he used a different pen name for each series, although he used his own name for his short stories, which, although lively and interesting, are hard to find these days.

Still not heard of him? Well, if you are of a certain age you will have enjoyed his most famous character, Billy Bunter, “the Owl of the Remove,” a pupil at Greyfriars School, by Frank Richards, alias Charles Hamilton. Billy Bunter is a great English fictional character and interesting as a main protagonist because he is an anti-hero, regarding himself  as an exemplary character – handsome and talented, vastly superior to everyone, whereas in reality he is a fat, lazy, racist obnoxious and narcissistic boy.

In the middle of Hamilton’s somewhat dated fiction Billy Bunter stands out as somehow out of place for his time, and the books are still readable, and funny. His novels are generally interesting and entertaining reads. Perhaps you liked the St Jim’s series by Martin Clifford or the Rookwood series by Owen Conquest, or The Rio Kid series by Ralph Redway. All Charles Hamilton books.

Ryoki Inoue, 1946 –

Brazilian author Ryoki Inoue, born 1946 has published 1075 fiction books so far, using 13 pseudonyms. Once starting a book he writes night and day without any breaks until it is finished He sometimes writes a whole book in one day or one night. He is the person who coined the wonderful phrase:

“The secret of the creative process is in 98% of sweat, 1% of talent, and 1% of luck.”

Lauran Bosworth Paine, 1916 – 2001

Over 1,000 novels.

American writer Lauran Bosworth Paine, 1916 – 2001, is probably the most unbelievable of these special novelists. He published more than a thousand novels under seventy pen names . He more or less captured the market for western novels under some famous western fiction writer names, like A.A. Andrews, Dennis Archer, Jim Slaughter.

Kathleen Mary Lindsay, 1903-1973

904 romantic novels.

Kathleen Mary Lindsay, 1903-1973, is the author of 904 romantic novels. She is better known as the English/ South African writer , Mary Faulkner, also wrote as Margaret Cameron, Mary Richmond, Molly Waring, Betty Manvers, Elizabeth Fenton, and wrote crime novels under the names Nigel Mackenzie and Hugh Desmond. She used a further four pen names .

Enid Blyton,1897-1968

Over 800 children’s books.

Enid Blyton, 1897-1968, needs no introduction. She is probably the most well known of all British writers and read by children all around the world in translation into most of the world’s languages. She wrote more than 800 children’s books. Her characters, like Noddy, are among the most famous in all children’s literature. The Famous Five children’s names trip easily off the tongue in several languages, There are other popular series like, the Secret Seven, the Castle and Island of Adventure, the Faraway Tree, and so on, series after series.

Her books are regarded as racist and socially offensive these days but she tells a good story and once a child reads a book from the Famous Five series , for example, they often find they can’t put the book down.

Barbara Cartland, 1901-2000

Around 700 romance novels.

The English version of Corin Tellado is Barbara Cartland, 1901-2000, who wrote 700 romantic novels in addition to plays, musical works, journalism and operettas. She sold a stunning 750 million copies of her books. Someone who had been a secretary employed by Barbara Cartland reported that the author spent most mornings in bed dictating her novels to her secretary. She hardly paused or retraced her steps. She often wrote a novel in two weeks. She holds the Guiness book of Records record for the number of novels published in one year – twenty seven!

Colonel, Prentiss Ingraham, 1843-1904

Over 600 dime novels.

A Confederate colonel, Prentiss Ingraham 1843-1904, began his writing career in 1872 with the novel The Masked Spy and over the following thirty years wrote more than 600 dime novels, the best known of which are The Buffalo Bill series, the Merle Monte series and the Dick Doom series.  As if that were not enough he worked for Colonel Bill Cody (Buffalo Bill), ghost writing many of the showman’s best-selling books. He used a number of pseudonyms.

Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992

Over 500 novels.

The remarkable American Writer Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, is not only in the top ten prolific writers, with more than 500 novels and hundreds of short stories, but is also one of the greatest science fiction writers. He was also the professor of biochemistry at Boston University.

Above all though, Asimov is a science fiction legend, one of the “Big Three” during his lifetime, together with Arthur C Clarke and Robert Heinlein. He is most noted for his Robot series. He presented the world of science fiction with a code that is known as “The Three Laws of Robotics,” a set of rules for the conduct of robots. He also wrote the short story, Nightfall , generally regarded as the best science fiction short story ever written.

R.L. Stine, 1943 –

Around 450 books.

• R.L. Stine, born 1943, is an American writer of macabre/horror/ghost novels and stories for teenagers, He has written about 450 books on those subjects and several series that enjoy enormous popularity, for example, the Goosebumps series, Rotten School, Fear Street, Mostly Ghostly and the Nightmare Room series.

And that’s our round up done of the world’s most prolific writers. Any other writers with enormous bibliographies you think we should add to this list? Let us know in the comments section below.

3 thoughts on “The 10 Most Prolific Authors Ever”

Asimov did not write 500 novels and short stories. Half his output, perhaps were novels/sci fi. His prolific output covered great stretches of history and science. Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare is a lifelong work for most. Asimov’s Guide to the Bible similarly. He wrote an encyclopedia of science and technology. All were over 1000 pages of historical research. You should not compare Asimov to authors who regurgitate basic novel plots.

Then there is Lance F. Lenahan, who should probably be considered the most prolific writer in history that up to now, only a small handful of people have ever even heard of, he no longer measures his work simply by the number of individual pieces, he measures them collectively by weight, hitting around the fifty-pound mark. Each of his piece’s ranging from a one paragraph Quote, up to several page Stories. He started his first Novel at 62 and is still working on it, I can only hope I can finish it before Life finishes with me. Respectfully, Lance F. Lenahan

Another name to add to this list would be Leonard Frank Meares, who wrote around (mostly western) 740 novels under various pseudonyms, the most well known of which was Marshall Grover.

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English Student wins 2024 Orwell Society Dystopian Fiction Prize

A student of Creative and Critical Writing in the University of Liverpool’s English Department has been awarded the annual Orwell Society prize in recognition of excellent dystopian fiction by a young writer.

When Fillings Burn by Loïs Bolton, a “powerful” love story between a crematorium worker and a man mourning the sister whose body he had cremated, was awarded the top prize at an event in London on Saturday May 11 attended by George Orwell’s son.

Loïs was presented with the prize of £750 and a bust of George Orwell. Her story will also be published in the prestigious Orwell Society Journal.

George Orwell (1903-1950), born Eric Arthur Blair, was one of the 20th century’s most prolific and influential literary journalists and authors. In a relatively short career, cut short by his death from tuberculosis at the age of 46, Orwell produced some of the most important works of fiction by any English writer in history, including dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.

Commenting on her success in the competition, Loïs said: “As a new writer, I can’t stress how affirming and inspiring the process has been, and how far constructive feedback can go in building your confidence.

“Thank you endlessly to The Orwell Society, the panel of judges, Richard Blair, and everybody involved with the Prize. I had a great time at the AGM and prize giving in London.

“Thank you also to all of my tutors and peers at University of Liverpool for their feedback and loyal support with my writing. The bust of George Orwell is sitting pride of place on the shelf at present, and I can’t wait to see the story appear in the journal.”

Dr Daniel O’Connor , Colm Tóibín Lecturer in Creative Writing said: “We’re thrilled that Loïs has won the Orwell Society Dystopian Fiction Prize! When Fillings Burn uses a brilliant concept to explore both how we live with death and the ethical compromises of our relationships. It’s no surprise that such an inventive use of dystopian fiction has won the Orwell Society prize! Loïs is an incredibly exciting author and we’re very proud to have her on the MA Creative & Critical Writing.”

The story received approval from the final judging panel, which included Orwell’s son, Richard Blair, among noted authors and Orwell experts. The first round of judging was carried out by Orwell Society members.

One judge praised Bolton’s writing for displaying the “expertise of Atwood and LeGuin”, with another describing the story as “sad and rather beautiful; dystopian in a quiet and understated way and all the more powerful for it”.

Entrants were asked to submit dystopian narratives of up to 3,000 words presenting an original fictional work inspired by or written in the spirit of George Orwell.

The judging panel, which assessed all entries anonymously, agreed that When Fillings Burn should be awarded the prize for its strength of writing, its subject matter, and for satisfying a major requirement of the award, a passion for the dystopian writing of George Orwell.

The Orwell Society is the official society dedicated to promoting the life and works of George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm and other important books and essays. The Society is a registered charity in the UK and aims to keep the study of Orwell alive through its educational activities. The Society’s patron is Richard Blair, Orwell’s son. You can find out more here.

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Cristina Rivera Garza continues crossing borders into award-winning territories

The prolific Mexican author just won the 2024 Pulitzer for Memoir or Autobiography

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It took Cristina Rivera Garza, 2024's newly minted Pulitzer Prize winner for memoir, 30 years to write the story of her sister's murder. 

The book, "El Invencible Verano de Liliana," was first published in Mexico in 2022 before its debut in the U.S. in 2023 as "Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice." The toggling between — and now accolades in — two different countries is routine for Rivera Garza, a professor and author, poet and critic who has written more than 20 books.

Who is Cristina Rivera Garza?

Rivera Garza was born in the bordertown of Matamoros in eastern Mexico. Her teaching career has taken her to both sides of the Mexico-United States border, with posts that have included UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and her current position at the University of Houston.

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Her writing has won nearly every major literary award in Mexico, including the José Donoso award for a writer's body of work and the Xavier Villaurrutia award for a single work, for the original Spanish-language edition of "Liliana's Invincible Summer." Rivera Garza's writings grapple with the concept of fluidity. "To read Cristina Rivera Garza’s work is to be immersed in a kind of borderlessness," said Sohini Basak in Wasafiri . "Her writing moves seamlessly between fiction, memoir, literary criticism, poetry, archival work.… Working in both Spanish and English, between Mexico and the United States, her deeply interconnected books engage with all kinds of boundaries: of the body and gender, of the ecological and human world, of the limitations of communication and language, of histories both personal and collective." 

One of Rivera Garza's most celebrated books in Mexico is "Nadie Me Verá Llorar (No One Will See Me Cry)," a tale of two institutionalized patients, a morphine-addicted photographer and a prostitute, during the era of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. The book "offers a new vision of Mexican history and of the future of literature in the region " with its "blending of historical documents with fictionalized accounts of lives," said Cheyla Rose Samuelson in an interview with Rivera Garza in the journal Confluencia . In the novel, as with much of her work, Rivera Garza, ever the interrogator of boundaries, ruptures the line between documentation and fiction.

What is her Pulitzer-winning memoir about?

The memoir "Liliana's Invincible Summer" fractures genres too, and here in the U.S., Rivera Garza is finally getting her flowers with a Pulitzer win. The book is, in part, a strict recreation of both her sister Liliana and the aftereffects of Liliana's murder in 1990. But the book is also a call to action related to Mexico's ongoing femicides. When Liliana's boyfriend murdered her, the government did not find nor prosecute the perpetrator. During the time period Liliana was murdered, such violations were called crimes of passion. Cultural and political change over the three ensuing decades empowered Rivera Garza to finally tell Liliana's tale. "I had to wait for us as a community and a society to produce a language through which I could tell this story from my sister’s point of view," Rivera Garza said to The New York Times .

The book's release in 2022 sparked further activism and political movement around femicide in Mexico . It gave voice and presence not just to Liliana but endless other Mexican women who have been murdered over the years. "There is a larger concept of justice that involves the preservation of memory and the truth, as well," Rivera Garza said about the memoir. "I realized little by little that the book in fact was trying to do that work."

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Scott Hocker is an award-winning freelance writer and editor at The Week Digital. He has written food, travel, culture and lifestyle stories for local, national and international publications for more than 20 years. Scott also has more than 15 years of experience creating, implementing and managing content initiatives while working across departments to grow companies. His most recent editorial post was as editor-in-chief of Liquor.com. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of Tasting Table and a senior editor at San Francisco magazine.  

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