Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels

In the introduction Pringle offers the working definition, "Science fiction is a form of fantastic fiction which exploits the imaginative perspectives of modern science." In turn, modern science is the "scientific world-view ... as it has come to be accepted by the intelligent layperson", which arguably "first became common property in the mid to late 19th century."[7]

Within fiction he distinguishes science fiction from "Supernatural Horror" and "Heroic Fantasy". They may be represented by Dracula and The Lord of the Rings, featuring "the irruption of some supernatural force into the everyday world" and "set in completely imaginary worlds" respectively. He also names the subclass "Fabulations", which do not belong in this book "unless they have a significant scientific or technological content".[8][NB 1]

In contrast, science fiction has a real-world setting and "fantastic developments which are explicable in terms of the scientific world-view." World-view does not mean accepted theory or fact: "many sf writers cheat: they use sleight-of-hand rather than genuine scientific knowledge." "The skilful use of pseudo-science and gobbledygook" may be good enough to exploit the world-view.[9]

The time period covered is approximately that for science fiction as a category of book publication, although the selected books were not all published in that category.[10]

Pringle admits that fewer than thirty selections may generously be called even "masterpieces of their sort". On the whole,[11]

Some of them are old favourites of my own ... Some are other people's favourites, novels which have been outstandingly popular or influential, or which seem to be especially good representatives of their type. A small minority, perhaps as many as ten, are books for which I have little or no personal enthusiasm: they have been included for the sake of balance and variety.

1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
3. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
4. The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
5. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
6. Limbo by Bernard Wolfe
7. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
9. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
10. The Paradox Men by Charles L. Harness
11. Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
12. The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl
13. Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak
14. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
15. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
16. A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn
17. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
18. The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
19. The Inheritors by William Golding
20. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
21. The Death of Grass by John Christopher
22. The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
23. The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
24. The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
25. Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss
26. A Case of Conscience by James Blish
27. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
28. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
29. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
30. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
31. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
32. Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
33. Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
34. Hothouse by Brian Wilson Aldiss
35. The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
36. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
37. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
38. Journey Beyond Tomorrow by Robert Sheckley
39. Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
40. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
41. Greybeard by Brian W. Aldiss
42. Nova Express by William S. Burroughs
43. Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
44. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
45. The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
46. Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith
47. Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
48. Dune by Frank Herbert
49. The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard
50. Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
51. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
52. The Dream Master by Roger Zelazny
53. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
54. Nova by Samuel R. Delany
55. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
56. Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
57. The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock
58. Pavane by Keith Roberts
59. Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter
60. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
61. The Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw
62. Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad
63. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
64. Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
65. The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker
66. 334 by Thomas M. Disch
67. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
68. The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
69. Crash by J.G. Ballard
70. Looking Backward, From the Year 2000 by Mack Reynolds
71. The Embedding by Ian Watson
72. Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
73. The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
74. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
75. Inverted World by Christopher Priest
76. High-Rise by J.G. Ballard
77. Galaxies by Barry N. Malzberg
78. The Female Man by Joanna Russ
79. Orbitsville by Bob Shaw
80. The Alteration by Kingsley Amis
81. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
82. Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
83. Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
84. The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
85. Miracle Visitors by Ian Watson
86. Engine Summer by John Crowley
87. On Wings of Song by Thomas M. Disch
88. The Walking Shadow by Brian Stableford
89. Juniper Time by Kate Wilhelm
90. Timescape by Gregory Benford
91. The Dreaming Dragons by Damien Broderick
92. Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
93. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
94. The Complete Roderick by John Sladek
95. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
96. The Unreasoning Mask by Philip José Farmer
97. Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven
98. No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop
99. The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica: A Novel by John Calvin Batchelor
100. Neuromancer by William Gibson

Xanadu Publications of London published at least four "100 Best" books. Transatlantic editions or simply jacket and cover designs may variably use "the" and "hundred" in the subtitles. Carroll & Graf published the books in the U.S.

• Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, by David Pringle (1985), foreword by Michael Moorcock
• Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books, by H.R.F. Keating (1987), foreword by Patricia Highsmith
• Horror: The 100 Best Books, edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (November 1988)
• Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, by James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock (November 1988)

Xanadu commissioned Moorcock to write Fantasy. When it became "clear that I would not be able to deliver it for a long time, the publishers and I agreed that James Cawthorn was the person to take it over." Cawthorn was the primary author of the selections "mainly", according to Cawthorn, and of the text "by far", according to Moorcock. (Fantasy, "Introduction", p. 9. The introduction, pp. 8–10, comprises a long section signed by Cawthorn, a short one signed by Moorcock, and joint unsigned "Notes and Acknowledgments".)

Science Fiction is a collection of 100 reviews, nearly uniform in length (all one to two pages), with a moderately long introduction by the author.[12]

Horror comprises essays on 100 different books by 100(?) horror writers, apparently more-than-one- to less-than-six pages in length.[13]

Fantasy is a collection of 100 reviews, nearly uniform in length (little short of two pages), with a short introduction by the authors separately and jointly.[14]

• "David Pringle's Best 100 Science Fiction Novels". at WorldsWithoutEnd.com —linked contents with front cover images
• Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database —with review history