The Science Fiction Book Club celebrate their 50th anniversary by selecting "The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002"1 The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2 The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3 Dune, Frank Herbert
4 Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5 A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6 Neuromancer, William Gibson
7 Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9 The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10 Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury…
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26 - Randy
With the exception of the Le Guin I don't think a single one of the top ten will stand the test of time. Not even the Dick, which is unevenly written. In contrast, several of the remaining top 30 are authentic classics: Man in High Castle, most of Deathbird Stories, More than Human, Rogue Moon, etc. At least as far as 20th century English language sf goes.
I do wish there was a Disch, Ballard and Silverberg in there as well.
I do think it would help to have some seperation between sf and fantasy, even if it is a little fuzzy, just because they are quite different traditions and it would have cleared the field a bit.
Perhaps seperating out the juvenile from the adult would have helped as well (Heinlein's juveniles are classic whereas his adult novels, although cultishly fashionable, are terrible and will date as badly as The Klansman).
27 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I would note for you all that one of the masters of science fantasy, H. G. Wells, distinguished bewtween the two kinds of works (with Tolkien's work, we have three kinds) by pointing out that the science fantasy was just a standared novel with a little razzmatazz deigned to look like science. Consider his works "War of the Worlds" or the "Island of Dr. Moreau." Sceince fiction works with issues truly related to science. Consider Asimov's "I, Robot." The key point he made in 1934 was that science should be an issue.
J.K. Rowlings works do not belong on this list at all. They are basically fantasy novels dealing with witchcraft and the like. IMHO, Tolkien's works are fantasy. Great fantasy, but not science fantasy. Similarly, utopias and dystopias do not really belong. They belong in their very own category.
Pehaps it would be healthy to admit that folks love fantasy tales - tales which are very differnt from science fiction.