(Image: Pan Books)
I should have known better. No sooner had I sent an email asking everyone at Â鶹´«Ã½ to vote for their best and worst sci-fi films and books than my inbox was deluged with responses. This is how they voted in the book category.
Favourite sci-fi book:
Douglas Adams’ . “Hitchhiker’s Guide is the out-and-out best sci-fi book by several dead whales and one bowl of petunias. Anyone who disagrees with me is clearly a crass Golgafrinchan who should be forced to listen to Vogon poetry for as long as it takes,” wrote one of our editors.
Runners-up:
Frank Herbert’s and Iain M Banks‘ were both popular. Banks would have won outright had his vote not been split over several books, including , and .
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Worst sci-fi books:
There was no clear winner, but the nominees for this uncoveted position included L Ron Hubbard’s and Arthur C Clarke’s 3001 – the latter “for comprehensively bollocksing up one of the classics of the genre. It had none of the meaning and richness of the earlier books and none of the scope,” wrote one editor.
Most recommendable to your mother:
by Audrey Niffenegger. “It doesn’t quite ‘feel’ like science fiction – it’s more of a love story,” wrote one journalist. Another commented: “I bought it for my Mum, who would never normally read sci-fi, and she liked it, too.”
Most difficult to understand:
Stanislaw Lem’s – a book consisting of introductions to books which don’t (yet) exist. “I’ve just been banging my head against his ‘introduction to a review of the history of the study of literature generated by artificial intelligences’,” writes one of our journalists. “Deeep.”
Best short story:
by Fredric Brown. “Only a page long but sends chills down your spine when you get to the last line. I first read it when I was about 15 and have never forgotten it,” commented one editor.
Shortest short story:
by Fredric Brown, summed up by its final two sentences: “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”
Now it’s over to you
What’s your all-time favourite sci-fi film and book? Vote now – and the first three voters’ names to be drawn out of a (virtual) hat will win the top three films and books.
Vote for your favourite science fiction film
Vote for your favourite science fiction book
You can find out what the winning titles are in the 15 November issue of Â鶹´«Ã½.
